Growing a lawn from seed, how stoned can my mud be?

btb3312 · March 2022

We have bought a new house. We didn't pay for the lawn as they wanted crazy money! So we plan on using grass seed. My plan was just to plant direct on the soil after removing the stones. But there seems to be appox a million stones. My question is how much stone in the soil is too much for a lawn to succeded. I was wondering about top soil to cover it, if I did this how deep would I need the top soil need to be.
Here are some very exciting pictures of mud so you can see what I mean

Thanks for your help in advance.

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btb3312 · March 2022

Ah yes, it would have be helpful if i mentioned that!
We have 3 kids, so they will be playing on it, so good to play football on. So it's doesn't need to pristine. Just typical garden lawn

In terms of size, its about 100m2

Fairygirl · March 2022

I was tempted, when reading your title @btb331vmz_R5_K , to say 'depends how much cannabis it's had'

The soil doesn't have to be gravel free, but anything bigger than about 1 to 1.5cm can be a nuisance, so try and rake that sort of size out if you can. If you prep the ground well enough - ie rake, level and firm it, then lightly rake again, that will be fine for seeding. It can help to use a little slow release food like BF&Bone a few weeks before hand too. Avoid if you have foxes that can get in though

Grass only needs a few inches of half decent soil to thrive in. If the soil's poor quality, you may need to add a little topsoil if you can't add some slow release food. Good drainage and sun are what grass neds most in order to thrive, along with regular water.

When you sow, it'll depend on the temps in your location as to how well, and how quickly, it germinates. It needs regular temps of around mid teens upwards. If you have children, they won't really be able to use it for several months though, until it's robust enough to withstand them!

Crazybeelady · March 2022

Exactly what I was coming on to say @Fairygirl 😆, the cannabis part that is!

btb3312 · March 2022

Heehee I'm glad people got the pun!

Ah good idea about the lawn rake! But there are alot of stone 1-1.5 cm, we aleady got rid of 4 wheel barrow loads. I guess I know what i'll be doing over the weekend

@Fairygirl how much top soil would you recommend? I'm in London, so maybe it's a bit early to sow to get regular mid teens temperature. It's south facing so its get a good amount of light

Fairygirl · March 2022

It would only be a few inches really, but you'd need to calculate the volume you'd require for the space. It might be several bulk bags, so you'd need to see if you felt it was worthwhile. One bag would only cover around 10 to 12 square yards to a depth of a few inches though.
If the soil's not bad, it would probably be cheaper to just add a little food then sow a few weeks later.
I created a lawn here a couple of years after moving in. The ground had been covered in gravel and paving, so there was nothing of value there, and underneath is solid, wet clay. I made a raised lawn - only a few inches - and just mixed the existing gravel with some topsoil and compost. It was barely two or three inches depth. Because of our high rainfall here, it was important to have plenty of drainage, which the gravel provided.

It looked like this about a month after sowing in June 2015. Again - the climate here means we can sow seed in summer and not have to worry about watering. In hot areas, spring is ideal.

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Plantminded · March 2022

Have you considered laying turf instead @btb331vmz_R5_K? You'll get an instant transformation, it will still need to establish before use but your children won't have to wait months before playtime! You'll also have less trauna keeping the birds away from that seedbed!

btb3312 · March 2022

@Plantminded I looked at turf and it seems quite a bit more expensive compared to seed, and I like a project.

How would I tell the quality of the soil?

Okay so maybe remove as many stones as I can (but I don't think I can remove them all), then maybe mix in some topsoil and fertizalizer, and then in a couple of weeks sow seeds?

btb3312 · March 2022

@pansyface We're in Hertfordshire, just outside of London. So you're saying maybe 2cm of top soil?

Fairygirl · March 2022

Yes -you'd only need enough for the seed to bed into. After it's got going, you can feed and faff around with it to improve it. For this year, the bit of food a few weeks before sowing will be enough. If you do that now, you should be able to sow in early April, which would be fine for your location.

Mine had very little soil.

Redwing · March 2022

Lots of good advice already. I would add that March is the best month for sowing grass seed so it's a perfect time. When sowing a lawn it's important to stay off it for about six weeks, then light traffic only until about July, by then it should hopefully have established pretty well. If there should be a long period when germinating and shortly after when there is no rain and the soil is drying out, you will need to water it being careful not to let it puddle.....it can be a drag, especially as you've got 100 m2. I have sown five or six garden lawns and my husband used to be a farmer and sowed many acres of grass so I'm speaking from experience.

Looking at your pictures I wouldn't worry too much about the stones and clods; just rake the big ones to the side and find another use for them. Good luck; it's fun to watch it grow.

Growing a lawn from seed, how stoned can my mud be?

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