One for the gardeners

[djrwood]

After a bit of advice. Been in my new build for over a year now. The garden used to be an argrictural field, so when we moved in we had it levelled, stone picked and seeded. Generally come up really well, however one half of it is quite patchy, even after a year. The other side is nice thick green grass.

im thinking it is an issue with the soil, as it appears a little harder and more cohesive (clay/silt). I don’t want to dig it all up or cover with a thick layer of good topsoil, so wondered if there is anything else I can do to fill the patches?

 

not after a show piece lawn as my kids and dog put pay to that. 

 

Thanks in advance

[Mice!]

a picture might help, short of digging it out and replacing the bad area which you say you don't want to do, maybe rotovate the area then add a load of manure and rotovate again, it should improve the soil.

but i would dig out the dodgey area and replace.

[TIGHTCHOKE]

A quick, relatively simple and cheapish way to improve that side of the lawn would be to use a lawn improver to get it up to the standard of the better side!

[Konnie]

Could be compaction when built , unless garden is large, soil change rapidly over small area, is not the first thing on my list to look at, try making holes with holly tined thing and brush lawn sand in.

like above about improving soil.

[owdnorthener]

Sometimes builders bury rubbish .... I hope that's not the case for you though and its just an easy fix.

Is there anyone local ( farmer ) who knows how the field was prior to the build ?

[ditchman]

areate it ....it is a long hard process...digging into 6" deep and leavering back...............sounds if the lawn is compacted.......then rake a mix of sharp sand compost and fertilizer and seed into it....................no quick fix unfortunatley

[Lloyd90]

All these new builds have absolutely **** soil. 

Mine is the same, would prefer to just slab the bloody thing but she wants grass (or mud!) 

 

we just spent the weekend with a garden claw, push into the ground like a fork and twist, breaks the soil up well, then we have seeded and raked over and now to keep well watered. 

[welsh1]

2 hours ago, ditchman said:

areate it ....it is a long hard process...digging into 6" deep and leavering back...............sounds if the lawn is compacted.......then rake a mix of sharp sand compost and fertilizer and seed into it....................no quick fix unfortunatley

Spot on.

 

[Westward]

3 hours ago, owdnorthener said:

Sometimes builders bury rubbish .... I hope that's not the case for you though and its just an easy fix.

Is there anyone local ( farmer ) who knows how the field was prior to the build ?

Not just sometimes! The builders almost always bury surplus hardcore and anything else that can't be sold, repurposed or burned and usually they bury it in someone's garden.

[GingerCat]

How big an area are we talking? Pic?

[ShootingEgg]

1 hour ago, Westward said:

Not just sometimes! The builders almost always bury surplus hardcore and anything else that can't be sold, repurposed or burned and usually they bury it in someone's garden.

I had this, bought a place, it flooded right next to thr down pipe of a conservatory that previous owner had put on, so i thought I'd dig a soak away, well... After going through smashed house bricks, so chunks of concrete and cement, couple of roof tiles, I found the clay that was meant to be there... Nightmare. With my lawn, i took it all up, top soiled and then turf. Only way to get a goodd start where I was.. 

[39TDS]

Found enough bricks and rubbish buried in my new build garden to build a garage!

 

[figgy]

When the brickies are done chucking broken or faulty bricks off the scaffolding. The machines just level the clay then top dress with a bit of topsoil.

Only way to a good garden is dig it all out and add top soil. If you just add top soil you'll be going higher and putting soil up your fences.

[Walker570]

All good advise but add the fact that you don't know what sprays where used on the field prior to the build.  When I moved here onto my fathers place I started to plant small areas of trees and purchased a lot of woodland flowers, and plnted them throughout the newly planted trees.  The aconites JUST survived as did one or two fritillaries and blue bells, but I was very disappointed with the result and called the supplier. He asked where I had planted them and I said it was old meadow grass land. He asked if my father had used any weed spray on he grass and I said he had to control the docks and nettles. There is your problem he said, you will not get much success for at leat twenty years. That was 28yrs ago and this year we are starting to see the wild flowers we plnted actually throwing seedlings up

.  Another thing is diesel spill.  I have a small patch on a new grassed area where the grass refuses to grow after three years of sowing. The guy who works for me then said he rmembers me spilling a small amount of diesel when filling the Kubota.  

Dig a spit deep all over the area remove that soil and replace with top soil purchased from the nursery in bags, not cheap but you will not be introducing further problems. Mix some sharp sand with it as the bagged top soil is very fine and can compact.

Short of all that, spray the lot off and lay a good quality artificial grass, there are some very good examples today.

[hedge]

I work part-time for a business that installs artificial grass and slabs/sleepers etc.

We do a lot of work on new builds where the lawns are impossible to maintain, usually for a combination of factors.

1. Poor soil quality. Where we are based we have lots of clay and other crud.

2. Poor quality top soil dumped on top of 1. Usually about 12" deep (if you're lucky).

3. All manner of crud dumped by the builders under 2.

4. Rubbish quality turf 

Some house builders don't even fit turf now and charge extra for it.

The lawns really struggle to get established and customers spend a fortune of lawn treatments etc and finally give up and get us in.

Most have kids/dogs and just want a lawn that is usuable. The difference is really noticeable. 

The grass we use is from Europe and has 10 or 15 year UV guarantees. It's not cheap but very high quality. Or you can but cheapo Chinese stuff for much less.

 

Or dig the whole thing out and put decent soil/topsoil in and start from scratch.

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2019 by hedge

[39TDS]

2 hours ago, Walker570 said:

He asked where I had planted them and I said it was old meadow grass land. He asked if my father had used any weed spray on he grass and I said he had to control the docks and nettles. There is your problem he said, you will not get much success for at leat twenty years. T

Complete nonsense.

There are no sprays used in grassland that would have an effect for even a couple of years never mind 20+.

If it were true there wouldn't be a single weed in any farmers field. Ask him what chemical it was, I could do with some.

[NoBodyImportant]

1 hour ago, hedge said:

I work part-time for a business that installs artificial grass and slabs/sleepers etc.

We do a lot of work on new builds where the lawns are impossible to maintain, usually for a combination of factors.

1. Poor soil quality. Where we are based we have lots of clay and other crud.

2. Poor quality top soil dumped on top of 1. Usually about 12" deep (if you're lucky).

3. All manner of crud dumped by the builders under 2.

4. Rubbish quality turf 

Some house builders don't even fit turf now and charge extra for it.

The lawns really struggle to get established and customers spend a fortune of lawn treatments etc and finally give up and get us in.

Most have kids/dogs and just want a lawn that is usuable. The difference is really noticeable. 

The grass we use is from Europe and has 10 or 15 year UV guarantees. It's not cheap but very high quality. Or you can but cheapo Chinese stuff for much less.

 

Or dig the whole thing out and put decent soil/topsoil in and start from scratch.

 

 

 

So what’s the point of good top soil if you put fake grass down?  Look great by the way. 

[hedge]

9 hours ago, NoBodyImportant said:

So what’s the point of good top soil if you put fake grass down?  Look great by the way. 

I meant if they want to put decent `real` turf down. 

We see a lot of patchy gardens for that reason and starting from scratch would give them a fighting chance to get a lawn to develop.

No point doing that if you're going to put plastic grass on it! 😃

Edited May 7, 2019 by hedge
Can't spell

[Walker570]

3 hours ago, 39TDS said:

Complete nonsense.

There are no sprays used in grassland that would have an effect for even a couple of years never mind 20+.

If it were true there wouldn't be a single weed in any farmers field. Ask him what chemical it was, I could do with some.

Well, in our case it proved true.  The winter aconites did just survive along with a few blue bells and only this year really are we seeing any natural regeneration.  The soil is quality light loam and always retains some moisture but apart from two small areas is not boggy.  Even after planting the trees we had very little weed as such ..like nettles and docks but plenty of grass. The ditches and hedgerows were overgrown with nettles and other wild flowers, including violets and primroses.  My father was farming these meadows back from 1962 and I have no idea what he put on the fields but when we moved in 28yrs ago there was very little wild growth in the grass, a little buttercup but little else.   A mystery.