Hi,
I have recently moved into a new house. The lawn dipped down in the middle so I decided to lay a new lawn to correct this.
My partner and myself hired a turf cutter and removed the turves. We were quite surprised at how much turf and dirt there was removed and the height of the pile. Now I am not sure if I need to buy some top soil to bring up the height in the middle or should I just level the soil I have left.
Also now in hindsite I am wondering if we should have not removed the turf as we did because this is also removing some of the topsoil at the same time.
How deep does the top soil need to be for a healthy lawn. And does laying a new lawn replace some of the top soil we lost when removing the old turf.
Does anyone know of a good supplier of top soil in the Barking, Essex area, not too expensive please.
Phew sorry about all the questions. Any help would be appreciated.
Suzanne
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rainbowgardener
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Hi and welcome to the Forum! I took the liberty of adding the UK to your title, to alert all the other UK folks we have floating around here.
I think you didn't get a response yet, because many of us are die hard flower/ veggie/ herb gardeners who haven't met a lawn we wouldn't love to rip out and replace with something more "productive."
I expect that either adding new topsoil or leveling what you have would work, but adding new top soil seems easier and has the benefit of adding some good fertile soil, in case what's there is kind of worn out. I'd add new to fill in the low spot and then add a little bit of new topsoil over everything.
Is there a reason you can't just lay back down the turf squares you so laboriously pulled up? It would certainly be a money saver and give you back the soil you pulled up with them.
Grass is pretty shallow rooted. If you put the turf squares with their soil back down on top of two inches of new soil on top of the old soil, you should be fine.
I think you didn't get a response yet, because many of us are die hard flower/ veggie/ herb gardeners who haven't met a lawn we wouldn't love to rip out and replace with something more "productive."
I expect that either adding new topsoil or leveling what you have would work, but adding new top soil seems easier and has the benefit of adding some good fertile soil, in case what's there is kind of worn out. I'd add new to fill in the low spot and then add a little bit of new topsoil over everything.
Is there a reason you can't just lay back down the turf squares you so laboriously pulled up? It would certainly be a money saver and give you back the soil you pulled up with them.
Grass is pretty shallow rooted. If you put the turf squares with their soil back down on top of two inches of new soil on top of the old soil, you should be fine.
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The Helpful Gardener
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Turf is easily layed on top of almost any surface and when cut in the fashion you outlined, probably has enough soil to survive already...
That said, as noted by the diligent and knowledgable RBG, adding some soil here and there would be the easiest way to get to level before relaying your turf, although you could very well rake the current soil to level and do very nicely, I'm sure, so do not feel a necessity to add if expense is an issue...
Your new turf would come with some soil of its own just as the turf you removed does. A few centimeters of compost spread before laying the lawn would certainly add biology that could be very beneficial in assisting with rooting, but again, not a necessity. Grass is very forgiving given enough H2O; if there is two inches of topsoil left you are fine, if not that supplier could come in handy...
HG
That said, as noted by the diligent and knowledgable RBG, adding some soil here and there would be the easiest way to get to level before relaying your turf, although you could very well rake the current soil to level and do very nicely, I'm sure, so do not feel a necessity to add if expense is an issue...
Your new turf would come with some soil of its own just as the turf you removed does. A few centimeters of compost spread before laying the lawn would certainly add biology that could be very beneficial in assisting with rooting, but again, not a necessity. Grass is very forgiving given enough H2O; if there is two inches of topsoil left you are fine, if not that supplier could come in handy...
HG