Good morning all..
Could I grab some advice on the process for preparing a lawn for seeding. Just moved into a new build and as picture shows although the ground is generally level, we have lots of weeds and stones.. just wanted to confirm the process from here?
Do I need to get as many of the larger stones up.. rotovate.. level.. seed?
Thanks in advance.
by MidnightMuch8584
6 Comments
It’s a bit of prep work.
Are you planning on bringing in a load of topsoil for your planting/ sowing surface?
If you are, then you need to get rid of the weeds and the larger stones. Everything else can be buried.
If you’re planning to use this surface, then you need to get all the weeds and stones up. The big stones and the wee stones too.
I’d dig down to half a spades depth and screen all the soil. You’re going to be walking barefoot and laying on it, so get all the stones up, removing all the hard clods of clay.
Then rake it really fine until the surface is flat, soft and crumbly.
It’s a lot of work tbh! A couple of weekends.
Before you plant you can scatter growmore granules / bonemeal and rake gently again.
Tread it all in very gently systematically and then sow your seed or lay your turf.
Wow, do new builds not even bother to give you a lawn anymore?
I’ve no advice on prep work but my back gardens a similar size as yours and I’ve regretted seeding it with grass. Consider clover or some other type of ground cover like creeping thyme, drought tolerant and not fussy really about soil type. Can be walked on and played on needing minimal mowing
Since this is a new-build, the first thing I’d do is to take a spade and dig down a bit: see what you’ve got here.
Newbuilds are *notorious* for having a thin layer of topsoil over (literal) rubbish – typical rubble and other building material mixed with soil that’s been highly compacted due to all the plant machinery going over it. What happens is that someone (typically the developer) lays turf over this, and it looks nice for a short while before essentially dying off – whereupon the advice is to dig it all up and mix lots of organic material into the ground (i.e. horse manure).
Also, don’t just put in a lawn – you’re going to want larger plants too: trees or shrubs with roots that will penetrate the ground, making channels through it for water to drain. Otherwise, you’ll likely find you have problems with standing water when it rains, and dry cracking ground when it doesn’t. They don’t need to be in borders, but perhaps consider now whether you want borders and if so where they’ll go.
If you [search this sub for “newbuild”](https://www.reddit.com/r/GardeningUK/search/?q=newbuild) then you’ll find post after post of people asking “Why is my newbuild lawn dying/ground cracking/garden flooding?” The answer is always a) the soil is an inch or two of topsoil over compacted clay and building rubble, and b) the only plant present is new turf, with a root system just a couple of inches deep.
It’s great that you’re thinking about this now and have a chance to investigate and if necessarily (*highly* likely) improve the soil before you seed or turf it. Most people reach that point after struggling for a few years with a lawn that’s doomed whatever they do to it at the surface level.
Dig up all the rubbish the builders have buried. Good luck.
Love the view of the concrete towers!