Stressed lawn
ROOKIE47
Posts: 4
ROOKIE47 says: Hi everyone this is my first venture into the forum and I am desperate for help. I have just had a wall around the front garden and a drive built. My clay base lawn (moss mostly) is well trampled and has all sorts of cement,and sand trodden into it. I thought of putting raised beds around the wall in which I intend to grow flowers, bulbs and shrubs. Along the drive I would like to have a lavender hedge and what remains would be turfed. Having decided what I would like, I have no idea how to go about it! Do I dig over the area, if so to what depth, do I add anything for drainage, if so what, there is so much conflicting information, would 10mm pea gravel be too big, I have tried horti grit in the past and found it too wet. I had thought of putting a layer of sharp sand then topsoil under the turfs, would this work? I realise this is alot of questions but any help would be greatly appreciated.
Last edited: 09 July 2016 18:07:40
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Rookie47, I think a lot of the usual posters are watching the tennis this afternoon... you may get some answers this evening!
Liriodendron, thank you so much for your response, I am really struggling with this, I need to get it as right as possible as funds are very low. Thanks again
Hi Rookie - sorry you've had a bit of a wait for any advice - we were all watching the tennis right enough...
A question for you. Is it the mix for the raised beds you want to know about? Usually, the best mix would be soil and compost in roughly equal amounts, and some manure, and grit mixed through it to aid drainage. I prefer to mix everything together rather than having a layer of gravel at the base, as I feel it can just become a sump and water can sit in there in wet weather. It also depends what you want to grow and what your climate is like , ie are you in a wet part of the country, or a nice dry one. You can adjust the amounts to suit the planting you want. I also split my raised beds using a simple timber barrier, so that I can grow plants which like different conditions next to each other
If you've had a bit of work done and the lawn has been trampled, you might want to give it a good going over with a fork to help aerate it. I've had some building work done here, so I've had a similar issue, and I've just done that, and I've also resown a couple of areas which were bare after bags of sand and various loads of 'stuff' sitting on the grass. It's already looking almost back to normal - a bit of sun (not a lot!) and plenty of rain has helped it recover.
Hope that's a little help just now.
Last edited: 13 July 2016 17:59:43
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Hello Fairygirl, thanks for your advice about the raised beds, I can see what you mean about a layer of pea shingle collecting the water, so will go with your suggestion, thank you.
I live in west Devon, so the climate isn't too dry or wet. Its just that being near Dartmoor the soil is very clay with shale beneath it, which takes forever to drain. So my main query is about the 'lawn' I have spent so much money in the past trying to improve it, to no avail. I have forked it over and given it a good raking, but there was so much moss in it (but at least it was green).
Some time ago I read something about laying turf on sand, but it didn't go into detail, apparently some golf courses use this technique. So was hoping someone would have tried this in the past. Not that I am wanting a golf course, just something that looks like a garden and not a meadow.
The grass is slowly recovering, give it another week and it might be long enough to cut. It was nice to know that someone (you) else is having similar problems, thank you again for taking time to respond to my cry for help, and I really hope your garden recovers quickly for you.
Hi Rookie47,
Re laying turf on sand. I worked as a gardener for a time, and my turf supplier had the most beautiful front lawn. When I admired it he pointed out it was 2-3" higher than the surrounding beds so drained well. He had had a turf order cancelled at short notice, and had used the turf he'd already cut to "improve" his front lawn, so it wouldn't be wasted. He'd got a dumpy bag of sharp sand (not the soft yellow sort), and spread it over his existing lawn, using the back of a big rake to even it up. Then he'd layed the new turf on top. Sounds crazy but it worked for him... he said it needed a lot of watering initially until it established, though.
Don't know if this is of any help...
Thank you Liriodendron, I am going to give it a go, I know I have to use sharp sand as the other stuff goes like concrete, found that out the hard way. (not on the 'lawn') Will let you all know how I get on in a couple of weeks, thanks for all your help
Good luck...