Making a new lawn out of a marshylawn

[Susannah]

Hi.

I've just joined this website in hopes of some sage advice from you more seasoned landscapers.

Last winter I moved into a new apartment with a small lawn and some raised garden beds.

It rains alot here in Vancouver and over the winter the lawn area became absolutely saturated, and moss has completely overcome what little grass there was.

My plan is to dig out a minimum of 2 or 3 inches and lay some drainage of sand, or rock, before laying down more earth and then cover with some turf.

This is only my assumption of the best course of action. I assume there is turf available for more moist atmospheres, and I would assume that the bogginess is not just a result of the wet Vancouver weather, but little or no drainage under the topsoil.

Also I'm not sure whether or not I would need one of the those black cloth-like ground covers somewhere in the mix, will they keep the weeds and moss at bay, or if I'm already digging down am I safe to not use one?

I would really appreciate any feedback and thank you so much for your time in reading this.

Susannah.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Drainage might well help, but perhaqps a rain garden might be a better feature, both for your yard and the surrounding biota. I wrote a bit about rain gardens in this article...

[url]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/design/2003/habitat.html[/url]

A combo of the two is certainly a viable idea as well, with the drainage of the raingarden drying some areas for turf...habitat for man and beast...

HG