Hi everyone just a quick one. I've started to lift the old paving blocks to try and get grass back. I have 2tone of topsoil but I'm wondering if I should dig out all the
gravel/sand back to the original dirt before laying my topsoil or can I just lay the topsoil and then lay rolls or seed the soil I haven't quite decided yet.
Ps for anyone wondering unfortunately the blocks are all claimed but if any remaining I will offer them up here for anyone to collect.
by Plus_Refrigerator_22
4 Comments
Was there no sand under the pavers? If it’s just peagravel ya should find soil fairly fast normally there’s a couple of inches of sand. How big an area are you planning?two tone of soil looks substantial in a corner or bags but is very little on the ground. The problem with the gravel is it’s there to drain water away and will do the same to a couple of inches of soil and grass so in dry weather your lawn would struggle. Unless it’s a particularly wet part of ground. Ya need to decide on your finished height relative to what you want next to remaining pavers. If level to them you want ideally the grass on soil or at a minimum 3 to four inches of soil.
If it were my ground I would want to remove the builders sand back down to the natural soil level. Having a layer of compacted sand under your new soil like that could be problematic and it’s not horticultural sand. A sharp textural change in the soil profile like this sand layer could create growing problems or even drainage issues in the future, I’d remove it just to be on the safe side.
All you need to do is dig the sand over so it doesn’t retain surface water. Any old gardener will tell you any sand will do for a garden. I’d sod it personally. If you’re spreading two tonnes of topsoil and put grass sod on top of that it will work out perfect.
Regardless of what you decide just don’t forget about the direction of the gradient on the lawn. You don’t water heading in the wrong direction and water logging
Id find how deep down the sand goes.
If it’s 100mm would you think it could be just rotavated it into the soil!
Particularly if you’re laying top soil down.