lawn work

[Andrew]

Hi as a novice on this list I would like some advice on how to go about sorting out my Lawn it is quite uneven and where I have had a patio fitted the lawn is now 6 inches higher than the patio so a trip hazzard.  When I have dug the lawn in the past I found you get big lumps of grass with lots of earth stuck to them which is well stuck together.   Do I need to cover up the lawn level the earth when all the grass and roots has died or is there a quicker way and if so whats the method for doing this. I did ask someone to do it for me which I was going to pay them on tuesday but they let me down and if they dont do a very good job im back to square 1 so thought i'd do it my self and ask the the list for their advice as we should have some nice weather comming in August so they say and hopefully I can get this job done then after reading the advice of list members on how to do this.  Best Wishes Andrew  

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[Roy]

Andy, sorry I don't see an easy way out, without seeing it, it is difficult to say.  The biggest problem is this big step from patio to lawn, it would really mean digging out this lower part of lawn to about 20 ft to create a gradual slope, any shorter gradiant would make a ridge in the lawn, when mowing it would leave a bald ridge. After all this hard work it would mean buying in some turf or reseeding it. so Andy you didn't tell us how big this lawn is.  I shall be very interested in others answers to you'r problem.

If you haven't quite understood, you can always give me a ring.

Good luck.

[Andrew]

Hi Roy thanks for getting back the area I want to sort out is about 40 feet square and the patio is about 8 foot square I was thinking along the lines of just blending the lawn into the patio rather than trying to reduce the height of the overall lawn which would be a big project and then make the lawn quite sloped which I wouldn't want last year I put up a new fence between me and next door and that area of lawn got really battered and now has tumps in it about 5 inches proud and dips about 4 inches lower than the rest of the lawn so the idea is to get it looking nice and presentable again and not like a bomb site which it looks like at the moment lol look forward to any suggestions best wishes Andrew

[Mark Smith]

Dear Andrew

 

Not totally sure I fully understand what you are talking about here, but what about levelling out with some top soil and then re-seeding with grass seed?

 

Thanks

 

Mark

[andre...@talktalk.net]

Hi mark thanks for the advice yes sounds great I will take off the high spots and then give the garden a skin over as I got a pile of topsoil from when the patio was fitted, many thanks best wishes Andrew

[Christine Weetman]

Hi Andrew, I don't know if you have sorted out your lawn or not, but I just wanted to tell you that our lawn was an uneven mess until Peter scored a slice through the middle of a dip, then he put our home made compost underneath each side of the slot he'd made. Just cut it so you can pull back the grass a bit, I mean go back to where it is even, spread the stuff underneath it and press the grass back down and water well.  we can't tell where Peter did this, but it was in several places in our front lawn and now it's all nice and even.  Trouble is, don't use anything as good as we did to pack with as now those places grow really quickly! lol  We keep goats so it was the well rotted stuff we collected and composted from their house! Oh dear.

 

It is a huge pity that your path isn't higher than your grass as the path may get flooded in the winter time now.  Can you buy some edging stones?  We have some here, three feet long and a foot high, you bury them in the ground for 4 inches so they stick up.  Then it's best to cement between them or you'll lose them as they sink over time!  Also if you sement them together you'll be stopping the water from the grass from flowing down your path.

 

Maybe you can then make a small boarder along side the grass and path and put some plants in there that need plenty of water, that way you'll be making use of the water which can't escape.  Does this make sense?

 

Speak soon. Christine.

----- Original Message -----

From: Andrew

To: blind-g...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 10:54 AM

Subject: [B-G-1117] lawn work

[andre...@talktalk.net]

hi thanks for the tips the area is almost finished now I went for the dig it all up and start again approach phew hard work but will be worth it next year.  I got a a 12 foot pole which I am going to use like a comb to get it all nice and level then reseed the area regarding the patio flooding that may be a problem but may have to look into a soak away if it is really a problem we will just have to see what it is like come the winter.  Hope everyone else on the list is making good progress in their gardens this summer, Best wishes Andrew