Going from weeds / mud to turf

[First-time-buyer]

Is there any fact sheets that are about to help us with this, were about 4 weeks away from laying the turf, but were just looking to have an idea on what needs doing.

The back garden is very uneven, with alot of large weeds.

The plan was too use 2 railway sleepers to create a raised area at the rear with flowers on it, then the front bit fresh, level turf.

This could be fun..

 

[ColJack]

can't go wrong with geotec fabric..

scrape about 3 inches off the "lawn" area and lay the fabric down, then replace the top soil after breaking up the clumps and removing the stones / weeds

 

[First-time-buyer]

whats 'geotec fabric', and how much does it cost

 

[First-time-buyer]

Cancel that..

found it here -

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50m-x1m-HEAVY...yZ122908QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Now, how will this aid me.? Wont the weeds grow on top of the plastic, and wont you be able to lift the plastic, and the whole garden come away.?

Can you put this deeper.? 4-5" or so.?

 

[Thermo]

hire a small culiivator to go over the soil and break it up, or dig it over with a fork and break it up. Remove any weeds that you find as you do so.

Rake the area to get it level. At this point you can add a fertilizer to the soil.

AT this point you now have a choice. Carry on with the soil you have or top it up with a decent levelling soil when you lay the lawn. This has the advantage that it is the stuff the turf is grown on, and is very easy to level off and get a perfect finish. Thats what we do with the lawns we lay.

Next lay the rolls of turf on it. (bit more to it than that, but in terms of preperation thats broadly it)

We dont normally lay a geotextile layer down, unless tha ground is very very bad. A good session of digging and weed removal will remove most of the problem, and the turf itself stops the majority of weeds coming through.

 

[First-time-buyer]

thanks for the reply.

were really stuck on what to do with this, the idea was to put a row of old railway sleepers on the back to create a raised area, then turf the bit in front. On the raised bit, put 2-3 slabs and have a bench or rabbit hutch up there.

Unsure how to fix the sleepers in place, and then the prep for the turf laying.

The soil has little / no grass at the moment, alot of weeds, a few things that need chopping out like an old tree stump, edging concrete, not a large area, a picture would help.

Probably the easiest idea would be to dig it all out into a skip, then top soil it and turf it, but we dont have the funds to do this.

Shall look into getting some roundup, but if im going to dig it over to remove them, when is it best to roundup the garden.?

At what point is it best to lay the turf after turning it over, and how do we turn it into that thin, nice soft soil that spreads easily, than this stuff we have in the garden.

 

[Thermo]

Firstly DONT use old railway sleepers. They are heavy, they stink, they leak old tar etc and are a nightmare to work with. You will be far better using new treated softwood sleepers. If they are a only one or two sleepers high they can simply be held in place by using timber stakes behind that teh sleepers are fixed to and laying them in a brickwork bond and securing them to each other as well.

You can use some round up on the area first, a few weeks before you dig teh soil over. Dont bother about digging all the old stuff out. It just needs a bit of hard work to sort it out. Digging it over with a fork will allow you to remove most the weeds easily and break the soil down into a fine workable tilth. If you add in compost at the same time as digging it over the results will be even better. From there you can rake and level it very easily ready to lay the turf. Ideally you want to do this just prior to laying teh new stuff. If you leave it a few weeks, foot traffic and rainfall will compact it down again. (the hard work is in the preperation, but if you are happy to do the hard work, it is cheap!)

Use decent turt from a turf supplier that is freshly cut. Dont use the rubbish rolled up for days from the diy stores.

 

[First-time-buyer]

I did type a reply, but when i went to post it, it refreshed the page and the reply was gone. Then i pressed back, and i was gone for good.

It did include pictures of the work area, but after spending 20mins typing it, i think ill not bother with the pictures till its in progress

 

[First-time-buyer]

its still in progress, managed to get a section level and plant some seeds.

in 2 weeks they have started to grow so ive progressed to leveling the whole garden.

did not add a fertiliser so that could be a problem, noticed you can get fertiliser pellets which i could mix in with the grass seed..

pictures to come maybe.

not got railway sleepers yet either, noticed you can get turf for £1.20 per sq mtr from a place in malton through eBay, might take this option as the lawn area ia 5.5m x3.4mtr which is just under 19sq mtrs.

as to laying it, unsure if to go with 2-3large bags of topsoil, or rake the top of the garden and add turf on then.