Mucky new lawn

Foleyart

I recently had the back of the house dug up and brought in topsoil for a lawn. About a half acre, I put in drainage pipes and stones and then the topsoil. Problem is the topsoil is very mucky, more like clay then soil and it is retaining water. I am thinking of laying on some builders sand to firm it up. Is this sand ok to use on a lawn? I know I have to give it some fertilizer as well.

Sonnenblumen

Foleyart wrote: »

I recently had the back of the house dug up and brought in topsoil for a lawn. About a half acre, I put in drainage pipes and stones and then the topsoil. Problem is the topsoil is very mucky, more like clay then soil and it is retaining water. I am thinking of laying on some builders sand to firm it up. Is this sand ok to use on a lawn? I know I have to give it some fertilizer as well.

It can be very frustrating, having completed all the groundworks, graded area with new topsoil only to see it spoilt (temporarily anyways) by heavy rain showers. New soil can hold a lot of water on the surface and become very messy very quickly. I would advise against using builders sand, this will cause problems down the line for the grass and in the meantime do little to alleviate the wet surface conditions. There is a horticultural sand (lawnsand) available which is sometimes used when installing a new lawn during wet conditions. But on a half acre, better to leave area alone, and allow the surface water to percolate down> The land drains will deal with any excess water, the wet conditions should improve in time and the surface will become firm and dry, which is what you will require before fertilising, final grading and seeding the area.