Is this how good topsoil looks?

gebbel

I just had guy lay 2 tonnes of topsoil in a small back garden. Looking at it I'm thinking it's too stony. He said it's great topsoil. Surely good screened topsoil should not look like this?

Thanks.

Calahonda52

Complete rubbish, more like backfill

stooge

you've more stones in your garden than I have on my driveway!!

gebbel

Cheers lads thought as much.

gebbel

I won't be paying yer man for that but what are options to salvage this situation? I'll be doing it myself this time.

Tefral

Ive sent back better on building sites!! Wait until the rain gets it and washes the soil out from the stones.

Your only option here is to get out a rake that has very close teeth and rake the stones out. I wouldn't pay a cent for it. With the money id buy a few bags of compost and rake that in after youve removed all the stones as it looks like you are up to level with that.

LurkerNo1

What are you making, a lawn i take it from the seed ?
Hmmmm rake as much of the stones out of it as you can and resow.
My soil is worse than that and i have no problem growing grass and a huge amount of perennial plants.

gebbel

Yes a lawn.....I wanted to make a better lawn with better quality grass than before. I can't believe I've been had like this.

What about something like this:

http://www.diy.com/departments/bq-metal-soil-sieve-w110mm-l390mm/189497_BQ.prd

LurkerNo1

You will be using that for a few hours, just rake out the stones.

"Good" soil is totally overrated IMO, i prefer to grow plants in lean conditions.

gebbel

Gardener: "I found the topsoil good...don't know where you are getting the idea that it's not".

This guy was recommended to me from a well know gardening centre that I use. I blame myself though..I was going to use Summerhill lawns proper graded stuff for €70 per ton. This guy got me his muck for €50 per ton. 2 tonnes were put in.

LurkerNo1

Rake out the stones and sow, it may not be as bad as you think.

Maintaining a lawn properly is more important than having perfect topsoil.
I have walked on great lawns on poor soil and have watched pro installed lawn companies work go to crap within a couple of seasons due to poor care.
Lawns need care on a regular ongoing basis if they are to stay looking ggod even if you had perfect soil and turf laid.

gebbel

LurkerNo1 wrote: »

Rake out the stones and sow, it may not be as bad as you think.

Maintaining a lawn properly is more important than having perfect topsoil.
I have walked on great lawns on poor soil and have watched pro installed lawn companies work go to crap within a couple of seasons due to poor care.
Lawns need care on a regular ongoing basis if they are to stay looking ggod even if you had perfect soil and turf laid.

He has already put the grass seed on. I will rake it as best I can in the morning.

navyddr713

I think it looks great, in time after a bit of work it will look great, I wish my back lawn looked like that.

looksee

It doesn't look like great topsoil to me, but don't worry too much about the stones. Small stones are not a bad thing, if you rake out all the stones you are left with stuff that can be too fine and compacted, though you could hand pick some of the bigger or more protruding stones. If you rake it your seed will end up all in one place. Is he going to come back and do the first couple of cuts on it? If he is he will have to deal with any hassles of stones on his mower blades. I would let it grow now and I think you will find in the end your lawn will be ok.

gebbel

The reason I went for this job was to improve the grass quality which was poor largely due to insufficient topsoil. Now the topsoil is dotted with stones that will prevent grass growth and lead to patchy coverage in my opinion. I'm going to take the crap off myself and reseed if necessary.

Supercell

I do think thats too stony for seeding at the moment. Either you lay turf on it and water it well until established or you get a rake and get as much of the top layer of stones as you can and then seed it.
A third option might be to buy some more top soil (better quality stuff) to give you maybe 3-5cm more on top which should be enough to seed and end up with a decent finish. It looks nice and flat so you are not a milion miles away from a good finish.

Marhay70

The soil is probably OK but you would definitely need to rake it or you'll have stones flying all over the place when you mow, seeding looks a little sparse too. If the contract was to leave it ready for seeding and you haven't paid yet, I would get them back to rake, level,and resow. As somebody else said grass doesn't need great soil, just take a look at the places where it grows naturally.

Gairdin nua

I had six lorry loads laid in a freshly laid lawn last year and have reaped the benefit this year. Scutch grass and every type of weed recordable. The weeds will respond to ongoing weed treatment, the scutch grass less so. The stones you remedy by raking lightly and you need some stone content beneath the surface to mantain drainage and soil temperature. My greatest issue is the soil I got is virtually mud (was sub soil) and is horrible to work with, would suck your wellies off when wet and you couldn't chip it with a pick axe when dried out. Its looks like brown mud and is probably that. Hope yours turns out to be different, hard to say from the photos. The experts tell me the answer is to add large amonts of organic matter to the bits I will be cultivating. Dissapointing as it was meant to be a low maintenance garden for my retirement.

gebbel

The soil is saturated wet now so not as easy to rake. But I have ordered 1 ton of proper screened soil. I will remove the top few centimetres of stony stuff and rake on the good stuff then reseed. The gardener guy and myself must also sit down and discuss how much he wants for his poor stuff. I don't want to fall out with him but believe he shouldn't charge me at all for it.