Pre-treating soil before turfing

[Scooby99]

Hi ? I am a gardening novice and I would very much welcome some advice re laying some new turf.

Our back garden is very difficult to access (down steps etc). I have recently removed an area of stone chips (which were sitting on membrane) which was laid many years ago and we want to extend our existing lawn to cover this area. Unfortunately, the quality of the soil under this area is poor - only one weed has grown in the exposed soil it in nearly 3 weeks !

I know the ideal would be to remove 3? to 4? the existing topsoil and replace with new soil, but due to the access issues and the fact that this would means transporting perhaps 2 tones of soil off site and bringing 2 tones of new soil on site, this is a problem.

Is there some sort of soil treatment (via watering can, granules etc) I could apply to the existing soil to re-vitalise it before turfing, rather than having to remove it.

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Scooby 99

[trader4]

Hide quoted text -

Agree. We can't see or evaluate the soil from here. If it is poor, then how you improve it depends on what it's lacking. Tilling in compost is never a bad idea, but is a lot of work and if the soil is OK, not necessary.

[Steveg]

Linking this to my post on yellowing lawn I am confused. Here people are saying it is an acceptable idea to add compost prior to turfing and yet from answers I have had it is suggested that compost in the soil that i added a year ago prior to turfing has initially striped out the nitrogen and resulted in poor growth and yellowing in the lawn. An explanation of the correct use / role of adding compost please ........... thanks

[allen73]

Your new turf will grow best when your soil is prepared in such a way as to encourage deep, rapid rooting. Turf needs just four things (in the proper proportions) to grow; sunlight, air, water and nutrients. Grass plants obtain three of these essential factors from the soil; air, water and nutrients. You must prepare your soil, the quality of the soil and its preparation will greatly affect the quality of the lawn. The correct depth of soil with the correct structure will ensure that the grass roots penetrate evenly and deeply. This will make the lawn more drought resistant, a more efficient water and nutrient user and will lead to a denser sward of grass plants which helps to crowd out weeds and gives a more visually appealing lawn. Poor soil and poor preparation will cause Turf to deteriorate over time.

To calculate how much turf is required, measure the length and width of the area to be turfed, multiply one by the other to give you the amount of rolls required. Measuring in meters is easiest as each standard roll of turf covers 1m². Then add 5% for shaping etc. Using a proprietary non selective weed killer recommended for killing grasses, treat the existing lawn at the stated application rate. For full effectiveness you may have to leave this for approximately 14 days.

Remove the existing lawn using a turf cutter, which are available from all reputable hire shops. This will produce green waste which can be Composted, Put into a specific green waste skip, Taken to a local authority household waste recycling center which has facilities for recycling soil and turf. You need a minimum of 100mm (4"), ideally 150mm (6") of good soil (the deeper the better). The soil should be loosely turned over and free from surface stone, clods, other debris and perennial weeds.