Aerate, aerate and aerate....hollow tine during spring, autumn and even winter. Newly turfed lawns consist of dwarf ryegrass which is a grass that likes food. keep it well fed....don't roll.....but aerate....now!
Thanks for the tips. most helpful, looks like I need to buy me a hollow tine aerator. Would you recommend something to fill said holes? If so what? Sand/topsoil? A bit of food in there too?
BBen and Lawn expert's advice spot on I think. Sand/soil mix as Ben says to brush in holes. Grass is great when kids are small Rich but they can do a fair bit of damage to it so I wouldn't worry too much about trying to have a putting green finish!! Builders are often notorious for the rubble dumping thing as I found in my first garden but live with it a while and see what happens. When the weather improves you'll get a clearer picture. A blank canvas is always quite exciting so good luck!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Bought a hollow tine aerator and plan to get out there as soon as the weather stands a chance of staying above freezing for a day or 2. Will buy some sand in the coming days, bought a hard wearing lawn seed to add into the mix to fill the gaps with.
Looks like there is quite a lot of stone under the lawn, tried to get the aerator into a couple of points and struck rock!
Unfortunately, it's common on new builds for the builders to dispose of their waste (scalpings, broken brick, even bits of wood etc) by dumping it in the gardens and just bulldozing it flat, covering with a couple of inches of topsoil and then laying a lawn on top. If you are planning on having any flower borders or other planting areas, I would be tempted to get started on those now and digging down to see what is underneath the grass.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
After trying a couple of spots to get the aerator in I decided there is far too much stone under it, in fact there are patches browning already where I have discovered large stones close to the surface.
Plannign now to lift the lawn back and level using some top soil/John Innes 3 mix.
Upon rolling back the lawn in a few spots to see the stones I found a few little critters - see attached images - garden centre suggests the smaller ones are leather backs, anyone know how to treat them. What is the larger one?
Gonna be a long job rolling back all of the turf, but the amount of stone and crap from the 2-3 bits I have seen so far should make the effort worth it once I can have a nice lawn. Sorry knees!
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Thanks for the tips. most helpful, looks like I need to buy me a hollow tine aerator. Would you recommend something to fill said holes? If so what? Sand/topsoil? A bit of food in there too?
Rich
BBen and Lawn expert's advice spot on I think. Sand/soil mix as Ben says to brush in holes. Grass is great when kids are small Rich but they can do a fair bit of damage to it so I wouldn't worry too much about trying to have a putting green finish!! Builders are often notorious for the rubble dumping thing as I found in my first garden but live with it a while and see what happens. When the weather improves you'll get a clearer picture. A blank canvas is always quite exciting so good luck!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Bought a hollow tine aerator and plan to get out there as soon as the weather stands a chance of staying above freezing for a day or 2. Will buy some sand in the coming days, bought a hard wearing lawn seed to add into the mix to fill the gaps with.
Looks like there is quite a lot of stone under the lawn, tried to get the aerator into a couple of points and struck rock!
Unfortunately, it's common on new builds for the builders to dispose of their waste (scalpings, broken brick, even bits of wood etc) by dumping it in the gardens and just bulldozing it flat, covering with a couple of inches of topsoil and then laying a lawn on top. If you are planning on having any flower borders or other planting areas, I would be tempted to get started on those now and digging down to see what is underneath the grass.
After trying a couple of spots to get the aerator in I decided there is far too much stone under it, in fact there are patches browning already where I have discovered large stones close to the surface.
Plannign now to lift the lawn back and level using some top soil/John Innes 3 mix.
Upon rolling back the lawn in a few spots to see the stones I found a few little critters - see attached images - garden centre suggests the smaller ones are leather backs, anyone know how to treat them. What is the larger one?
Gonna be a long job rolling back all of the turf, but the amount of stone and crap from the 2-3 bits I have seen so far should make the effort worth it once I can have a nice lawn. Sorry knees!