Turf / grass seed preparation?

[Weebles]

We have got to the grass stage and the area to be grassed / flower beds is rock solid from having diggers track over it so much. It doesn’t drain very well at all. I’ll definitely get in some topsoil but what would should we do with this rock solid stuff first before we put topsoil on top? No weeds. It’s like concrete.

[Stones]

Hire a rotovator for the weekend, break it up. Roughly level and finish with topsoil.

[saveasteading]

If inclined, break it up with a fork, perhaps wetting first for ease.

 

To the topsoil add plenty of manure or compost, and worms will do it for you, over a couple of years.

Henley-on Thames I see. Lots of horses around there?

 

 

 

 

 

[joe90]

I got a power Harrow to break mine up.....

 

[Vijay]

2 hours ago, joe90 said:

I got a power Harrow to break mine up.....

 

 

Now you're just showing off lol

[joe90]

23 minutes ago, Vijay said:

 

Now you're just showing off lol

Only cost me £60 to do 1/2 an acre in 30minutes. Beats the hell out of working hard ?

[Temp]

If you go for turf make sure you have a good water supply. When we did ours our outside tap could barely supply enough water to stop the turf shrinking. What I mean is it could run two sprinklers at once but even moving them every 30-60 mins wasn't enough to stop some areas drying out in the sun/wind.  It also meant someone had to be at home for a week or so.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Temp

[Bitpipe]

Having done both, I'd recommend seed. We laid ours in December and it came up really well.

 

The turf looks great when laid but then shrinks (especially down here) and never looks quite as good. 

 

Seed also heaps cheaper. Prep is same.

 

Get a rotovator or Turf rake from here, highly recommend them. I hire an aerator every year to give the lawn a good going over.

 

https://www.hirestation.co.uk/tool-hire/Landscaping/Rotavator-Hire/140013/

 

Rake flat, add some top dressing, rake flat and then scatter your seed. I made a 1m² frame from offcuts and plonked it down, scattered the recommended amount of seed (was about a handfull) and then gave a gentle rake. 

[Red Kite]

Ours was really compacted and we were about to hire a rotavator  when an electric Mantis Tiller came up on facebook for £40 . best £40 ever ! Although electric it coped well with the clay soil and did much more than we thought. Much lighter than a rotovator  and no pressure to do it allbefore rental finished  It was also great as we did a main turn over but then when we added compost a couple of weeks later we could run over it again. Its also narrow enough to do the raised beds . We seeded the lawn after loads of preparation and it is now growing - the areas with less sun are noticeably behind  but beginning to green up. Its a bit patchy so may need a bit more seed in places, we used a seed spreader and the correct amount . We debated weed killing first but thought as we had dug it over and taken weeds out it might be ok.  I am surprised at how many weeds were through before the seed sprouted !  The wildflower meadow seeds we planted in another area have been even slower to germinate - so not sure  if they are going to as they went down before the lawn. What to do there I am not sure - maybe be patient for a bit longer 

[Temp]

Turf wont shrink if you keep it wet enough but it can be a challenge to do that. 

[Weebles]

All great advice thank you. Yes plenty of manure round here though not cheap sadly. might plump for seed in the end but clearly got done prep to do either way.
Seen this in Aldi 

https://www.aldi.co.uk/electric-tiller/p/805141459647600?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx6m2vvCe8AIVi_93Ch09OQ4tEAQYASABEgKVaPD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#product-reviews

reckon it will get through the solid layer?

[Temp]

I inherited a similar size petrol rotavator. Useless, it just skips about on a hard surface.  I'd rent something bigger. If you still have an excavator on site use that to dig up the top layer.

 

 

[joe90]

I have a jcb with toothed 600mm bucket which I raked the ground with, on really hard ground I reversed with the front bucket, teeth down and front wheels in the air. No rotovator would have touched it.

[Weebles]

1 hour ago, joe90 said:

I have a jcb with toothed 600mm bucket which I raked the ground with, on really hard ground I reversed with the front bucket, teeth down and front wheels in the air. No rotovator would have touched it.

Sadly no digger on site. But today’s rain might soften it so we can dig a small pit to see how deep the problem is.