can my sister have a lawn, with minimal spend?

brians_daughter

Hi all, my sister has just bought a house and the back 'garden' is decked and in the middle of it are decrotive stones, she really wants to put a small lawn (only about 10 foot square) on the square where the stones are. so in effect it will be decked round the edges and a small lawn in the middle for her small kids to have a slide and a small play house in summer .

We have had a quick look under the stones and there are layers of membrane, under the membrane it seems to be compacted soil. The decking means that the membrane is about 3 inches lower. IYKWIM? I think i am having a blonde day and cant explain myself correctly!

Anyway, is it just a matter of removing the stones and membrane and laying a thin layer of soil then turf, i expect its not that simple so i am asking for advice.

She took some pics and went to a few places 1 told her just to move the stones and membrane, a thin layer of soil then she could lay turf - they did say it takes time and effort for it to 'bed' correctly, but another place told her its a 'big job' and she would need to dig down past the compacted soil and loosen it all up before she could even consider a lawn.

With the conflicting advice from 'people in the know' I was hoping someone here may be able to give us ideas and tips etc.

Thnaks in advance

bubbles0169

it will probably need rotavating(loosening up) then rolling then turfing or seeding
if its too compacted the seeds/turf wont take
if its too loose after it will be uneven
anything she does will take time and patience!
we moved into a new build and had to do it ourselves but we didnt take the time so its uneven and patchy!
do it right in the beggining and it wont cost you more after

tim_n

Cheapest option is a garden fork, a garden sieve, lawn seeds and plenty of hard graft.

With 10ft sq, that's not too bad. loosen the soil and pass it through the sieve removing as many stones as possible. Once it's all done compack it down by shuffling and raking till as flat as you can make it. Sew grass seed over the top, you can cover with a thin layer of soil as well. Water with a sprinkler well.

Alternatively roll over it turf and watch it die. It won't be a healthy lawn.

On my allotment I did the shuffle and the digging with much less of the stone checking and it came up fine after about eight weeks of rain. Do it now and she's have an OK lawn for this summer.

brians_daughter

Thanks all...now i am off to rope my oh into helping her at weekend