Garden Transformation: Gravel to Grass?

Wheeker

Hi there, looking for some advice- I'm a gardening novice finally getting around to sorting out my rear garden. It's a c.50m2 SW facing garden originally with 3 trees & loads of gravel. I got 2 of the trees removed & the neighbour also removed his out-of-control leylandii- plenty of light now. A couple of years ago I filled a midi skip with the gravel. The last couple of weeks I've removed the weeds grown in the meantime & the remaining gravel & sand (filled a 1.25 tonne mini skip bag). The plan is to put down c.5cm/2" depth of topsoil & then lay grass turf. I have a few queries:

• before I put down the topsoil should I spray weedkiller?
• I have weed barrier sheeting, should I lay this before the topsoil or is this OTT? I thought I should at least put it down over the remains of the 2 ground-out tree stumps?
• any recommendations near Dublin12 for topsoil & grass turf?
• is 5cm/2" depth of topsoil enough?
• going to build a raised veg bed out of reused & new decking planks. Should I line the bed with plastic sheeting to avoid contamination?
• going away on holiday in a couple of weeks, do I need to invest c.€70 in a sprinkler & timer so I don't come back to a dead lawn?

Any help gratefully received

Sonnenblumen

Not sure if it is wise to put a weedbarrier under 2" of soil (very shallow) most likely impede grass root development.

I would suggest you spray the area now and in 7-10 days remove dead material and then topdress with additional topsoil. Ideally you need to roll area before installing new roll turf lawn, so defer this aspect until you return from holidays and also re-spray area if necessary after you return.

2 week settlement period would also be good to allow topsoil topdressing settle and reduce the rolling requirement. So instead of buying a timer, hire a roller after you return.

shawnee

Wouldn't see it necessary to line a raised bed with plastic. Have one myself and have grown veg and in general plastic and plants don't go so well. I suppose if you are laying turf then you will need to research the watering aspect. However in the country we live in I would say it is unlikely that you will get two weeks of a total heatwave without rain. If you do I would have a hose nearby and ask a neighbour or a friend to water the grass once in three days.

Sonnenblumen

shawnee wrote: »

Wouldn't see it necessary to line a raised bed with plastic. Have one myself and have grown veg and in general plastic and plants don't go so well. I suppose if you are laying turf then you will need to research the watering aspect. However in the country we live in I would say it is unlikely that you will get two weeks of a total heatwave without rain. If you do I would have a hose nearby and ask a neighbour or a friend to water the grass once in three days.

There's been precious little rain in the last 12 weeks, we've had none in March and hardly anything worth talking about in April. New grass will fry within 2 days, and certainly dehydrate within 2 weeks. The two main reasons why lawns are generally poor in Ireland are lack of feeding and lack of watering.

morg

Hi Wheeker!
I've been doing loads of instant lawns lately,and what I would recommend is spray all vegetation with systemic herbicide(Round-up or Gallup)on a sunny calm day.
Come back in 1 week and break up compacted soil with a hired rotovator,then rake out stones and get a rough level on lawn area.
Order as much sand/soil mix as you need-1 tonne will give you 14m2 at 5cm deep.I really recommend the sand/soil as it is great for getting a nice level and the roll out grass seems to root well into it.Drainage is good too.
Get the grass delivered from Turf lawn sales.(best price)
Once leveled,start rolling out the grass in lines parallel to the house.Start with full roll then start next line with half a roll like brickwork.
Hey presto,you have a new lawn.
Do not use weed membrane,just build the veg boxes at least 2 decking boards high.
Get somebody you trust to water the lawn well everyday either in the morning or evening. Should not be a problem.
Good luck

GreeBo

shawnee wrote: »

Wouldn't see it necessary to line a raised bed with plastic. Have one myself and have grown veg and in general plastic and plants don't go so well. I suppose if you are laying turf then you will need to research the watering aspect. However in the country we live in I would say it is unlikely that you will get two weeks of a total heatwave without rain. If you do I would have a hose nearby and ask a neighbour or a friend to water the grass once in three days.

If the grass seeds germinate and then you get a day or two without rain then they will all die and you will get a terribly patchy lawn.
A newly seeded lawn needs to be watered every day if not twice a day during the summer, even an Irish summer.

Wheeker

Thanks for the replies- very helpful. Ok, so taking the above into account my revised procedure is:

• turn over the soil as is (not enough of an area to bother hiring a rotovator really), then spray with weedkiller. Leave it for a week?
• Add the topsoil (topsoil or sand/soil mix?)
• Spray again with weedkiller?
• On holiday for 2 weeks
• On return, if there are new weeds spray with weedkiller again. Leave it for another week.:(
• Hire a roller & roll topsoil
• Lay grass turf
• water regularly, at least once-a-day

Does that sound about right? Just wondering about the waiting period after spraying weedkiller. At the moment, there are no surface weeds. The weedkiller I have is Weedol, it actually says for "medium" weed killing wait one day after spraying before planting. As I'm not really planting, only adding topsoil & rolling turf, perhaps I don't really need to wait a full week after each spraying

Sonnenblumen

Almost spot on, but hold off after final spray, the waiting period is to allow the weedkiller to take effect (usually 5-7 days during growing season). I would recommend Roundup or similar with Glysophate active ingredient.

Make sure you use lawnsand, simply roll top surface (topsoil) , lightly spread lawnsand, followed by light roll, apply fertiliser, instal roll turf etc

Wheeker

Well I'm back, desperately looking for more advice. I followed a lot of the advice from the posts in this thread, put down 3 tonnes of topsoil, laid the grass turf & ended-up with a perfect lawn

I had read advice on the internet that I should hold-off on the first cut for 7 weeks :rolleyes:. However then I read elsewhere not to let it grow higher than 4", by 7 weeks mine was about 8" . I still hadn't got round to buying a lawnmower so I quickly borrowed a neighbour's flymo hover. The end result is a lawn full of white/yellow/brown grass :mad:.

With the benefit of hindsight, I now know that I let it grow far too long & also probably cut it too short with a lawnmower with a blunt blade. The question now is- what can I do about it? Water it, fertilise it, just leave it? Any help gratefully received .

redser7

Well don't worry, if you had it nice during the summer then it will recover. I assume you just cut it recently. Give it a couple of weeks to recover, you will see green shoots coming through. Then give it a cut on a high setting. At the end of October give it an autumn lawn feed. If the very cold weather doesn't come in early you might even give it one more cut in November. Then start the regular maintenance program in spring. It will be fine.
Watch the forecasts - you wouldn't want to overdo watering at this time of year as it mightn't drain away well enough and it will encourage moss.

morg

Not good. It depends how long ago you scalped it. You've put the grass under stress by removing most of the growth. The lawn looks orange because its old wilted blades of grass ,not the fresh green stuff you're after. All is not lost.What i would do is fertilize with an autumn specific lawn feed & water if soil is dry. You should use a spreader for this rather than applying by hand as you won't get correct/even coverage.Let it do its thing and in a week or so you should see results.The grass is really slowing down this time of year but get yourself a new lawnmower and make sure its sharp,then cut the lawn as often as you can.This will make it fill out better.If you keep letting it get out of control and then lashing it out of if it with the flymo then your lawn will be in bits forever more! Hope this helps

Wheeker

Thanks a million for the quick replies. I only "scalped" it last night, so suppose I will leave it a couple of weeks & see how it recovers. Then give it a lawn feed late October? Hopefully it will make a comeback, it's been a lot of hard work, it would be pretty depressing if it's all for nought....

redser7

Should be fine. It has to be an 'autumn' lawn feed. B&Q and Woodies stock it but also keep an eye out in Lidl and Aldi as they should be stocking it soon too, much cheaper.