Topsoil level and depth

[Sunil237]

Hi all,

 

I am deciding my topsoil level/depth and needed to understand how much depth rolled turf would add.

I have the choice between seed and turf. With seed I will need to go to the exact level of the patio, however turf comes with a soil bed so I assume I'd need to leave the soil level lower. Does anyone know how much I should leave?

 

Thanks 

[gaz_moose]

I was talking to my neighbour who is a landscaper about turf vs seed and he said seed wins hands down. I cant remember what seed he said to use though sorry. 

 

i scraped my lawn back with the excavator bucket hoping to get a few tonnes of topsoil to use elsewhere and i swear it was only about 10mm thick on top of solid clay, which probably explains why that lawn was terrible. 

[BadgerBodger]

If you got a spec from a landscape architect it could be as much as 200mm topsoils and a minimum 300mm suitable subsoil. 
 

I’ve had success with 100mm topsoil on poor quality subsoil. 
 

Bear in mind topsoils comes in variable qualities too. Typical commercial topsoil tends to be sandy loam which is blended but you also have low fertility topsoils which are more suited for wildflower meadow seed mixes - this however I’ve had good success with growing on just about anything even straight onto subsoil.