Creating a Lawn.

[andy2306]

Hi,

Im about to embark on a long project of creating a garden out of a concrete jungle.

The long graden is currently, concrete slab patio, a concreted area and herringbone drive.

I want to turn the concrete area into a lawn. and put decking on the area currently occupied by the concrete slabs.

My question then, the concrete area (where i want the lawn) is currently split level, my plan is to level this with the harcore created when i knock down a garage and remove some of the patio.

So once its level and has approx 2ft of hardcore on it, what do i do next, there is obviously going to be a v.good drainage in this area, but will the soil just settle in the gaps leaving me with a totally unlevel lawn?

Could you tell me how to go about this process.

Thanks
Andy

 

[richie4236]

Not done this myself but have recently had a new lawn laid by some professional landscappers. They flattened the area in question - which had been a veg garden many years before with raised beds and paths - using a mini-digger, then laid topsoil over that to give a nice flat surface and then turf on top of that.

To make sure it was all level they used a thing called a whackerplate (which I believe they hired from HSS) to compact the topsoil and turf making it nice and flat.

Not sure if this is applicable to what you're trying to do, but the whackerplate might help you to fill all the holes.

 

[Thermo]

i hope they didnt use a whacker plate to compact the soil if they were professional landscapers.

break the hardcore down reasonably small and then compact it. You can use a wahcker plate for this bit. Cover it with a layer of topsoil, doesnt have to be the top quality for this bit. I would then leave it for a while or use regular saokings to allow it to settle and fill any voids. Once it has settled it can be covered with sandy loam, which will allow you to screed it level ready for the turf.