Levelling Garden and fixing Clay Soil for nice Lawn
sandeep.ssb
Posts: 7
Hi,
I have had some extension work done to my house
and now I am looking to tidy up the garden. the garden is pretty uneven and i think it made up largely of clay soil. some of the building
materials also spilled out into the garden (Sand, pebbles, some rocks
etc.)
I want to basically have a nice green lawn in
the middle, raised flower beds (rendered brick) on either side and then a path
on one side. Due to funds, budget etc looking to do this largely myself where
possible.
Not really sure where to start though – I thought first thing to dig out about 15 cm deep of the existing garden and chuck that away. Then add some sharp sand to level out with a gentle slope away from the house. Then add about 15cm of topsoil and then some turf.
Would this be the correct approach? Grateful for any advice.
The garden is in pretty bad state at the moment:
I want to get something like this eventually:
Posts
1. Clear up all the rubbish and building waste from the garden. If its visually clear, it will motivate you to get on with the actual gardening work.
2. Your soil looks compacted, so not good for drainage. I think you’ll need to ‘double dig’ it all over and mix a lot of organic material like Compost or Horse manure.
3. You will also need some layer of top soil. I used wickes for the stuff and found their stuff good quality and good value for money.
4. Now gradually level the loosened up soil with a large plank of wood.
5. Get some rolls of turf and you will get an instant lawn.
6. For borders i used reclaimed Oak sleepers. They are easier to install than building a brick border and also look more natural/ blended in.
all of this is hard graft (and costly in the beginning) but worth it in the end. Good luck!
Personally, I would work on the hard landscaping first and get the walls and paths built before buying turf. As you've probably seen first hand, the grass will get wrecked by building work. Once they're done then you can set about improving and levelling the soil, in preparation for laying the turf.
Are those the blocks for your raised bed walls, down by the wheelbarrows? Leftover building supplies from your extension could come in very handy for your garden build, so don't chuck everything in the skip just yet.
Best of luck with your exciting new project 👍.
Edit: Unless you've got money to burn, I'd use the soil you're planning to remove from the lawn area to fill up the bottom of the raised beds rather than "chuck it away". The ones in your second image are quite sizeable and will take a lot of filling up.
Thankss
OK yep so i'll get the sides digged out the flower beds build along with the path first, that shouldn't take me too long i think.
Yeh some of those will be blocks for the bed walls others have been used in the main house (this photo was taken a few weeks ago).
So some of that old soil is mixed up with lots of rubble, building sand and other building materials. I guess that part would not be suitable for the new flowerbeds and need to be separated out? I'll use the rest of it to fill up the beds with then
In terms of improving and levelling the soil what would be the best approach for that?
Ah thanks!
yep 1) i am planning on clearing out this bank holiday weekend.
In terms of the build-up how does that need to look?
- Turf
- 10cm Top Soil
- 10 cm mixutre of Compost + existing Clay Soil
- Existing Clay Soil
Is there any reason to put sharp sand in?
for 4) do i need to trample / compact the new top soil at all?
For 6) we've got lots of concrete blocks and sand/cement laying around so thought put it to good use with the flower beds
nice, looks great!
There are some good on line tutorials, check them out.