Lay a lawn over pebbled garden - possible?

guestiee

Hello all,


I have recently moved house and have inherited a low maintenance garden. Not our thing at all.


First thing I want to do is to convert the bottom end of the garden in to a lawn for us and particularly our daughter.


Currently it is around 80% decorative pebbles and the remainder mostly paving blocks. The pebbles are around 4-6 inches deep.


I want to raise the area a little so the lawn is higher than the land currently is. My question is is it ok to:


- remove the paving blocks
- spread out the pebbles
- remove the membrane underneath them
- add 8-12 inches of topsoil to level the surface
- then seed the area


Will this solution work ok? I have heard from a colleague that the pebbles can help with drainage providing that there is enough topsoil for a lawn to grow in. Is this correct? It will save a lot of time and cost of removal, which hey, why I'm a member on this site


Thanks for any help and advice.


You can view the garden here https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwxUMa1UZJO1SUE1VzBMNU9WeE0/view?usp=sharing

glasgowdan

As with many things, it's not ideal, but it'll probably work out ok. Only issue might be the lawn shifting if it's on a reasonable slope. I'd probably do it, but add as much topsoil as possible. Also break up the compacted stuff under the slabs so it doesn't hinder drainage.

Sicard

It's absolutely fine. Grass can grow and flourish in just a just a few inches of good soil. I know because I've laid turf in similar circumstances.

thescouselander

It might work out. If you did want to get rid of the stones you could advertise them free to collector on gumtree somewhere similar and someone will probably remove them for you. This is how I got rid of the materials in the low maintenance garden at my old house. In fact I get rid of loads of my "rubbish" that way.

guestiee

Thank you all. There is tons of the pebbles/shingle/gravel. Literally tons! it's almost 9 inches deep in places! I'll go for the gumtree idea, allow people to bag it up and take it. Then I'll remove the membrane and current paving and whatever pebbles I am left with ill spread across and topsoil to level it all off. Thank you

Kiran

I would have thought that with 4" of topsoil on top of the gravel you would have an ideal drainage blanket and some nice grass to show for it