New build and new lawn

robertwillson

Hello,

I am a young gardener and have little experience when it comes to soil types and lawns, but I am keen to learn! I have just moved into a new build house and a I have a sizeable garden (please see picture). I would like to make the most of this but I have concerns about the lawn and the soil underneath. This plot has a lot of builders rubble on it and the garden is very lumpy and bumpy already. I have attached a picture of the garden next to mine which is yet to lay its turf to give you an idea of what we are playing with here! What is the best course of action? Am I better ripping the whole lot up and starting again or will I be able to go on with what I currently have? Any help would be much appreciated!

Many thanks,

Rob

robertwillson

Dave Humby

Welcome to the forum Rob.

Is yours the turfed lawn? If you do a search you’ll find a lot of threads covering lawns on new builds. As you rightly say you normally have all manner of crud buried in there plus the compaction that has normally taken place with equipment etc in the building of the houses themselves. 

You’ll quite likely find your lawn starts off OK but may deteriorate over time. If so then it will be a case of routine lawn maintenance. Worst case you may have to take more drastic action but I would suggest it’s a case of wait and see.

For the lumps and bumps you can top dress the dips. Alternatively if they are quite deep then cut a ‘X’ in the turf, peel it back and fill with top soil then reinstate. You can use the same principle on the high spots too. 

Buttercupdays

How badly do you need a perfect lawn? 

Yours is a lovely green, no apparent dry patches or boggy patches, and hardly a weed to be seen. So what if there's a few bumps or hollows - is it really worth going through all that pain just to get rid of them? There's much more fun to be had from a garden than obsessing about a bit of turf

My garden is on the side of a hill, everything slopes, to a greater or lesser degree, the only bit of grass that is remotely flat is the top of the dam and that is covered in molehills, and sunken patches from the winter wet. But I'm perfectly happy with it as long as it's green and makes a good backdrop to what I 'm really interested in, the planting, the trees and the pond.

bradleywood32

Welcome Robert, I moved into a new build 4 years ago, mine came turfed.
However 4 years on I'm still trying to even it out. I've noticed small chunks of brick work their way up to the surface possibly down to movement of soil from the dog running around and now my little one now chasing him.
Over the past week I've been using my fork to aerate the soil and been hitting and digging up rocks the size of melons see attached photo.

It looked great when we first moved in however it is very patchy now.
We also have lumps and bumps which we can live with for now as even if I try to level it out the dog will cause more (40kg rottweiler)

Loxley

Personally I would wait and see how things develop, and take remedial action at the appropriate time of year if you really have to. 

amancalledgeorge

These threads just illustrate so well how negligent developers can be...just imagine burying that size rock in a new garden. A bunch of cowboys.

But to go back to the subject @robertwillson it looks absolutely fine to me...just make some beds for more interest and diversity and you have the beginnings of a lovely garden. 

robertwillson

Thank you all for the words of wisdom. I will just see how it goes and work on any problems if and when they arrive. Hopefully I don’t get melon sized stones coming through! Off do draw up some beds and seating area on a sketch pad now. I will let you know how I get on!

bradleywood32

Like everyone says though just wait and see how it goes. When they laid ours they didn't put any topsoil underneath and struggled with the tiller to turn the soil as they did it in december when we had the awfully damp winter and it clumped together 

Looking forward to see your designs Robert 

JoeX

@robertwillson

What are your mid to long term gardening plans, simply maintain the grass and a few beds, or grow your own jungle?

robertwillson

Haha no jungle but I am looking to add a bed at the bottom of the garden to try and block out the fence. I also want to put a seating area at the back left hand corner and debating whether to go with decking or not. We also want some red robbins down the fence to the right of the garden as there is currently not real border there. Any thoughts and suggestions are welcomed!