Raising a lawn

s.g.foster28

Hello!

Im relatively new to the gardening world so apologies in advance for any daft questions. Long story short I bought a house last year and seemed to buy a garden with it that has some quite serious draining problems! It’s a nice big garden for the size of house, just needs some work to get it to its best. Ive got a pretty good idea at what Im doing with most of the tasks that I need to carry out, but Im wanting to raise the lawn anywhere from 0 to 6 inches. The lawn is approximately 10m long and 3m wide. 

Here’s a picture of it as is:

The plan is to put in a new raised patio at the end of the extension, put in a new path with is level and slightly drops towards the house (where there’s an aco drain), put an aco drain down the length of the path that meets the existing drain, and then raise the lawn so that it has a slight drop towards the path and slopes towards the house. Plan here:

im finding it quite difficult to know the best way to raise the lawn and what steps need to be taken. I’ve seen a couple of people say that you need to add an inch a year, unfortunately this just isn’t practical. I don’t mind it taking some work and a few months, but not really years! I accept that I’ll need to kill the grass then raise and then either seed new grass or lay new turf. But if anyone had any more specifics it would be hugely helpful.

Many thanks
Sam

Fairygirl

You can use almost anything to raise the lawn @s.g.foster28 
The best way is to tie it into the other hard landscaping, so a brick that matches your house would be best. There's already a gravel board at the fence, so that helps. 
You won't need to kill off the grass either, but you'll need a fair old amount of top soil brought in. You can just put that on top, level it, firm in and rake. It will settle, so it's best to wait a little, and then add some more, following the same firming and raking process before turfing or seeding. Your final soil level will also depend on whether you turf or seed. 

JennyJ

If you want the lawn sloping rather than using a low retaining wall to make it higher but level, turf might work better than seed. Seed (and the soil) can wash down the slope when you water it.

I think it might be a good idea to dig a test hole in the wettest area to find out what's going on underneath though. Is it just compacted soil (in which case spiking it deeply all over before you change the levels might help) or is there something solid under there like old concrete or an old pond liner? Best to find out before you put a lot of time and effort into it.

s.g.foster28

Thanks for the advice! It’s a bit of a low patch with the surrounding land. And it should actually slope towards my neighbours on the other side of the lawn however it looks like they have at some point paved and raised the whole garden (done years before I moved in). 

I did actually dig a test hole and it doesn’t drain at all, it’s heavy clay combined with the level issues as mentioned so I think raising will be my only option really.

Fairygirl

I created a lawn here over completely compacted clay which had paving and gravel on it. To mitigate our rainfall as well, I also made sure there was plenty of pea gravel in the mix. It was only a few inches high -grass doesn't need a lot of soil to grow well. 
You're probably getting a fair bit of overflow from the neighbouring plot though, so it might be worth also putting a basic bit of drainage along that fence side.

It looks like it might be shady too, which won't help, but if you spike or break up the lawn a bit first, as @JennyJ says, that will also help. 

Chris-P-Bacon

s.g.foster28 said:

I did actually dig a test hole and it doesn’t drain at all, it’s heavy clay combined with the level issues as mentioned so I think raising will be my only option really.

A lot of effort just for a patch of grass? Do you 'really' want a lawn that badly?
Even you do raise it I think you may still need extensive drainage - even then it will most likely still be boggy in winter.
Your garden of course, but I'd be tempted (while you have the chance) to install an extensive a drainage system - or as your budget will allow. During the drainage works you may want to think of alternatives to grass. 

LeadFarmer

If raising, mix cheaper materials with the top soil, such as sharp sand.
Personally I would dig the lawn up and turn it into a planted area, but you may prefer or need a lawn.