grass seeds

[toffee]

My back garden is now a mud bath due to dumpers, diggers working on the house.
I have 3 young boys who give the garden some stick and Im wondering what sort of grass seeds to use to get a new lawn.
The lawn needs to be pretty tough with kids and dogs playing there.
Any suggestions as to what I should use and how long it will take before its usable? thankyou, toffee.

 

[pitbull]

For a grass area suitable for kid's to play on you should go for a seed
blend that contain's rye grass seed. As far as I know it's the most kid
resistant grass or turf it with meadow turf, you even get free daisys.
Hope this helps you toffee.

Good luck-kevin

 

[toffee]

thankyofor your advice. It will have to be seeds, turf will be too expensive.
Do you know roughly how long it will take for the grass to grow enought to be able to use the garden?

 

[Thermo]

if you want to do the whole garden in a turf suitable for children to play on, it may not be as expensive as you think try some local suppliers. It will also cost you a fair few quid for seed as you will get through a fair bit and be constantly redoing areas. If you do use seed , do one area at a time and keep the kids of it. Just remember grass grows by the inch but is killed by the foot!

 

[toffee]

thankyou.
I also fancied putting some sandstone slabs to make a pathway to where the hens are kept, can I lay these straight these into the ground, or would I nneed to put plastic or something under them?
I wanted them to have gaps like stepping stones.
Hubby says that he still needs to be able to mow grass easily so can you give any advice on the best way to do this so that he can mow over the top of them but so that they wont shift in time and stick up?

 

[pickles]

Lay them into the ground flush with the lawn on a level bed of sharp sand.
The only problem with the stepping stone look is that the grass starts to grow over them and it's a complete pain to keep them clear

I used grass seed to cover about half my lawn and it was a good six months before it was really fit for use. Although it's much more expensive laying Turf is a lot quicker, you can walk on it more or less straight away and it settles within a month or so, particularily at this time of year (assuming spring ever arrives)

 

[toffee]

thankyou but what is 'sharp' sand?

 

[2scoops0406]

Sharp sand, you can get it from any builders merchants or wickes, it's basically as it's name says, slightly coarse sand. Make sure it's washed otherwise you'll kill the lawn stone dead. For exactly this reason do not use sand from a beach!

 

[toffee]

thank you, I didnt know this.
Last sand I got from a builders yard was bright orange and I got it for the kids sandpit as the really soft stuff wouldnt make good castles apparently.

The orange stuff stained all their clothes though!

I didnt realise there were so many types of sand, neither did I realise that beach sand would kill the grass.

 

[Thermo]

mix some cement in with the sharp sand, about 10:1 it will set over time as the moisture from the ground gets into it and will give a firmer base. What sort of artea of garden have you got. You should be able to get standard quality turf delivered for about £1.50 to £2.00 m2 dependent on where you are and who you go to

 

[toffee]

The area is about 70 foot by 60 foot .
The outer sides are ok, just a bit messy but the majority is just soil now.

I never realised that it would be such a mess and unfortunately we didnt pay the builder to repair any damage to the garden, neither did I budget for it.

I have hens too which i would have to try to keep off the seeds but cost is the main thing.

Ill ring round for costs.

thanks for all advice.

 

[Thermo]

if the builder caused the damage during the progress of the works he should of re-instated it

 

[toffee]

I will have to ask him about that because he said that his price didnt include 'making good'.

 

[Thermo]

not the point, hes caused the damage while doing it. If he dropped a pot of paint while working, youd expect him to make good.

 

[toffee]

yes, I would.
On second thoughts, I think Ill get hubby to tell him, when Im out.
(he is a big builder!!!)