re-turfing a lawn

[Frane Selak]

I'm at the stage now where the only thing left in the garden is to get the grass back again, all the building work is done and I've just about finished the patio. there was grass there before but its had a couple of years of anything and everything being dumped on it so it isn't really grass anymore.

I've had a go today at digging it out but its really hard going, I've sliced the top layer off with a spade and tried turning the soil over but there are that many roots just below the surface its practically impossible by hand. How far do you have to go before you can lay new turf down, I've got loads of decent top soil left from when I dug out for the patio, I was thinking dig it out the best I can, rotavate it and then spread a layer of top soil over it then turf it.

[sherman]

Sand is what you want to dig in to aid drainage.
Your as well to seed it rather than spend money on turf as neither will properly take hold until next year now.

[Actual]

For all your effort so far and with good top soil you could just as easily use grass seed.

I previously seeded a lawn in September and it was looking good in a few weeks.

[Frane Selak]

I did think about seed but don't you have to get the soil absolutely flat, a field near me has recently been dug over and flattened by a big machine and then re-seeded but its like walking on the surface of the moon at the moment.

I doubt I'd actually lay the turf until next year now anyway, there is still a lot to dig over yet, and I have to get rid of a mountain of top soil as well before I can finish it all.

[Frane Selak]

This is what I've done so far, took an hour or so.



I've still got to sort this out.

[J6542]

It seams a shame to turf it. It looks like the perfect spot for a trampoline

[POIDH]

Get a fork instead of the spade. Hire a rotorvator if needed. Get the roots cut/out if it's anything more than grass. Order in a ton of manure/compost and dig that in, maybe with a ton of sand too.
Order a grass seed with much longer roots - look up climate resilient grass seed.
Or / and consider a green manure over winter, maybe even a clover lawn and let nature break up the dirt.

[TT86]

Id be tempted to seed it. It's not too late if you do it now.

I rotivated my garden last week as this section hadn't been a lawn previously and was very compacted. Raked it and added top soil before seeding. Covered in a fleece and I have grass shoots already.

Did my in-laws today for them. They were renovating an existing lawn so they scarified first then we added to bulk bags of soil. Levelled that with a rake and then fine tuned with dragging a pallet across it.

url]|https://forums-images.pistonheads.com/647438/202509276753873[/url]


Granular new lawn fertiliser added and seeded

Again have used a fleece which is great for stopping the birds pinching it whilst keeping the soil temp a little higher.





I would be tempted to try and aerate with a fork and add some top soil before seeding. Can always top it up in the spring. The fleece is brilliant. The amount pictured was less than £30 from elixir garden products.

Edited by TT86 on Saturday 27th September 19:33

[Mr Squarekins]

+1 on using fleece. Works wonders and it's lovely to see the fleece rise over the weeks as the lawn grows beneath.

Yes, it's like watching grass grow