Am I going overboard with topsoil (now with photos)

Laying turf next weekend and struggling to find decent topsoil. A few questions: -

1. How much do I really need? (area to be turfed is 56sq metres)
2. I've been told by some that there's no topsoil about due to the weather?

Any pointers, especially on how much I need, would be great!

CHeers

firstly what sort of soil have you got already. If its on bad soil or clay, we would put down a layer of 4 inches, if the soil is good then 2 inches is fine

secondly, what a load of crap! You dont want topsoil, you want a decent sandy loam, thats been kept dry. contact a turf supplier for it, not some cowboy from a local ad

Ta

Have mentioned before that one side of the garden is really good soil, and one side is very much full of clay. Almost like a sludge after the rain this weekend. It looks like I'm on track as I've dug down further that side to build it back up with topsoil, I've also mixed in a fair bit of sharp sand too.

I was looking at the sandy loam option, but it's a bit pricey. Not one to skimp, but just thought there maybe a cheaper alternative out there somewhere???

Right. Have finally shifted by hand the 8 tonne of soil over the weekend and I'm getting somewhere near level.

A few questions: -

1. How do I actually get it level? It's very lumpy at the minute and quite wet and boggy after the rain over the weekend

2. Do I roll this level before I put the topsoil on?

Any pointers would be great

Cheers![/img]

all the time its wet you will get nowhere. No dont roll it, all that will do is compact the ground and make the drainage worse.

If you are going to use what you have got then you are going to need to break the larger lumps up with either a small rotovator, or a fork to get it to a fine tilth, and then rake it to get it level.

I know the sandy loam is expensive (how much have you been quoted, its cheaper loose) but it gives a fantastic result. keep it dry and you will only need a few inches on that soil. Its easy to rake over and get flat, with a staright edge such as a piece of 4 x 2. It depends whats more valuable to you, time or money. When we do lawns we always use the sandy loam as a levelling soil. it means we can get the lawn prepared to how we want it very quickly.

A bit like this:-

clay soil, levelled out, prior to installation of land drains. No way will that ever get broken down to a fine tilth!


sandy loam spread over area, before its screeded off


turf being laid on the prepared loam, easy as the hard bits been done already

Thanks a lot, reallly appreciate that.

I was quoted around £75 per bag of loam, and I reckon I'd need three bags.

Are you basically saying that I shouldn't bother doing anything until the soil has dried out a bit?

Also, would I need to rotivate the area or just rake out the lumpy bits?

Finally (!), Forgive me as I can hear everyone on here laughm and I've heard it used so many times, but what does screeeded actually mean?!?

We pay about £50 for a m3 in bags, or £40 ish loose. Try a decent turf supplier for it, it will be cheaper than a builders merchant.

Let it dry out a bit definetly. If you are going for the sandy loam, you basically want it roughly level before you put it on, so rake it and break down the big lumps. The loam will cover a multitude of sins.

No apologies necessary, dont ask and youll never understand. Basically it means getting it flat by use of pulling a staright edge over it. WIth the sandy loam the way we do it is as follows

KEEP IT DRY FROM DELIVERY, UNTIL ITS BEEN LAID! sorry to shout, but that is vital. if its wet when they deliver it, tell them to stick it, its an useable mush then.

Barrow it onto the lawn area and leave it in small piles dotted about.

Rake it out to get it roughly level, by eye.

Walk across all the lawn taking pigeon steps to get it lightly compacted (no rollers or anything else)

now lightly rake it to break up the surface of it again.

The point of screeding it is to have a nice flat surface to roll the turf onto. you dont want to be walking over it once its been done, so work out where your start point for laying the turf will be. (in the pictures you can see we started laying the turf by the paving and worked off of boards, so we finished screeding by the paving)

get a peice of straight timber (its better with 2 people and a longer bit) and draw it across the surface of the loam. that will give you a flat surface. fill in any dips as you go. Work your way back towards your start point for the turf laying. thats the screeding bit!

Now when you lay the lawn, do as you can see and work off of scaffold boards, planks of wood or whatevre you have. The loam will be soft and if you walk on it will give you footprints in the turf. It needs time to settle and compact after its all been laid. Dont worry about trying to get stripes on the lawn when you lay it by the way, its just the way the turf is rolled out, it doesnt affect how it looks later on!

hope that helps!