Digging up lawn and reseeding

Mistral001

A few years ago I decided to raise the level of my lawn 4 inches so that it was level with my drive.   I dug it up with a rotavator, spread 4 inches of topsoil over it and then sowed the seed.  The lawn has,ever since, been dogged with bare patches and moss, which was never a problem before I raised the lawn.  After reading quite a lot about what could have gone wrong, it became clear that the  topsoil I was sold was far to clayey and not proper topsoil for a lawn. Every year, I spread expensive moss-killer and fertiliser and spend ages scarifying the lawn by both mechanical means and by hand with a rake and still end up with a lawn with bare patches and moss.   So the time has come to do something about my problem lawn. 

I am thinking about, getting rid of any moss that is left and then hand digging the lawn up to a depth of about a 8 inches by double digging if necessary and just folding in the clayey soil with the original soil below.  The problem is that I cannot find anywhere in a gardening book or on the internet source recommending this.  What I am proposing to do make common sense as I will be mixing up the clayey soil with the original soil and providing organic matter from what is left of the grass and its roots.  Has anybody got any more suggestions. 

Farway

Have you tried aerating it?

You can hire mechanical aerators to save some backbreaking work, then it's just a case of raking on sharp sand

One link here, but no doubt loads on YouTube etc

https://www.homebase.co.uk/ideas-advice/garden-and-outdoor/how-to-aerate-a-lawn/

Mistral001

Farway said:

Have you tried aerating it?

You can hire mechanical aerators to save some backbreaking work, then it's just a case of raking on sharp sand

One link here, but no doubt loads on YouTube etc

https://www.homebase.co.uk/ideas-advice/garden-and-outdoor/how-to-aerate-a-lawn/

I already aerate the lawn using a garden fork and that has no effect. Hiring an aerateor might do a better job and help, but I am not prepared to spend any more money on something that just might help.   Digging it up to mix the clay soil into the original soil below seems to be the only solution apart from removing the old clay topsoil and replacing it with proper topsoil, but the cost of the new topsoil and getting rid of the old topsoil will be a big problem. 

I do not mind digging, as I am retired and have plenty of time on my hands.  I reckon half an hour a day for a week will get it done.  The big question is whether I need to spray the lawn with weedkiller and leave it for a couple of weeks, before I start digging.  Many sources recommend it, but since I am digging the ground to a depth of at lease 8 inches, I could bury the growing grass deep into the ground without killing it first, rather like what farmers do when they plough a field.

twopenny

Sounds very high maintenance.
Most people will scatter sharp sand, to do a good job do it after aerating and, some lawn weed and feed
Without meaning to be crude, have you tried urine or the stuff you buy which is granulated uric acid? Thats an old but sure tried and tested means to getting rid of moss and strong grass growth. It makes an outstanding difference in just a couple of weeks.

MikeJXE

Mistral001 said:

A few years ago I decided to raise the level of my lawn 4 inches so that it was level with my drive.   I dug it up with a rotavator, spread 4 inches of topsoil over it and then sowed the seed.  The lawn has,ever since, been dogged with bare patches and moss, which was never a problem before I raised the lawn.  After reading quite a lot about what could have gone wrong, it became clear that the  topsoil I was sold was far to clayey and not proper topsoil for a lawn. Every year, I spread expensive moss-killer and fertiliser and spend ages scarifying the lawn by both mechanical means and by hand with a rake and still end up with a lawn with bare patches and moss.   So the time has come to do something about my problem lawn. 

I am thinking about, getting rid of any moss that is left and then hand digging the lawn up to a depth of about a 8 inches by double digging if necessary and just folding in the clayey soil with the original soil below.  The problem is that I cannot find anywhere in a gardening book or on the internet source recommending this.  What I am proposing to do make common sense as I will be mixing up the clayey soil with the original soil and providing organic matter from what is left of the grass and its roots.  Has anybody got any more suggestions. 

If it was me I would remove the top 100mm and recover the previous topsoil then bury the clay soil. I can't see digging it in would cure the problem 

Sarahspangles

I’ve renovated lots of lawns over the years and one thing I’ve learned is that if you incorporate the existing grass into the lawn base it will be forever lumpy.

You could:

• Cut the turf into strips, undercut it to remove, stack it upside down and once it’s rotted down use it elsewhere in the garden. Removes half your clay soil.
• Turn over the soil to a spit’s depth. Distributes the other half of the clay so it’s not forming a barrier to rain percolation.
• Decide whether to add loam or a sandy soil to make up levels. Whichever you do, let it settle before the next step.
• Turf or seed.

If the lawn is shady that will increase the likelihood of moss or patches, choosing a seed mix designed for shade does help.

Mistral001

MikeJXE said:

Mistral001 said:

A few years ago I decided to raise the level of my lawn 4 inches so that it was level with my drive.   I dug it up with a rotavator, spread 4 inches of topsoil over it and then sowed the seed.  The lawn has,ever since, been dogged with bare patches and moss, which was never a problem before I raised the lawn.  After reading quite a lot about what could have gone wrong, it became clear that the  topsoil I was sold was far to clayey and not proper topsoil for a lawn. Every year, I spread expensive moss-killer and fertiliser and spend ages scarifying the lawn by both mechanical means and by hand with a rake and still end up with a lawn with bare patches and moss.   So the time has come to do something about my problem lawn. 

I am thinking about, getting rid of any moss that is left and then hand digging the lawn up to a depth of about a 8 inches by double digging if necessary and just folding in the clayey soil with the original soil below.  The problem is that I cannot find anywhere in a gardening book or on the internet source recommending this.  What I am proposing to do make common sense as I will be mixing up the clayey soil with the original soil and providing organic matter from what is left of the grass and its roots.  Has anybody got any more suggestions. 

If it was me I would remove the top 100mm and recover the previous topsoil then bury the clay soil. I can't see digging it in would cure the problem 

I think this is probably what I will do.   My original worry in doing this was it would cost a lot to get high quality topsoil.  Also where would I get rid of this clayey topsoil from the problem lawn.  In fact I have a place in the back garden which is waste ground in that it is neither a lawn or used to grow flowers or vegetables and I could get the topsoil from there and then put the clayey soil in the space left.

Mistral001

Sarahspangles said:

I’ve renovated lots of lawns over the years and one thing I’ve learned is that if you incorporate the existing grass into the lawn base it will be forever lumpy.

You could:

• Cut the turf into strips, undercut it to remove, stack it upside down and once it’s rotted down use it elsewhere in the garden. Removes half your clay soil.
• Turn over the soil to a spit’s depth. Distributes the other half of the clay so it’s not forming a barrier to rain percolation.
• Decide whether to add loam or a sandy soil to make up levels. Whichever you do, let it settle before the next step.
• Turf or seed.

If the lawn is shady that will increase the likelihood of moss or patches, choosing a seed mix designed for shade does help.

Thanks for this. A lot of good advice there.  I might end up doing what you suggest, if removing all the clayey soil does not work out for me.  Certainly removing the turf will remove a lot of the clay leaving less to dig in.  See above post about my lightbulb moment about using topsoil from a piece of waste ground in my back garden.  The clayey turf could eventually be put there and dug in.  It would not matter if the ground there ended up lumpy.

Sarahspangles

Yes I’d get started and see whether you get enough improvement by removing some of the soil and mixing.  The RHS Soil Types webpage has good descriptions so you can decide what’s ‘missing’ once you’ve mixed.  Some of the inexpensive soils sold in bulk are silty rather than clay and you can fix that with sand.  In my experience clay holds water whereas silt blocks drainage.