New Lawn Advice

Hi

At the end of our garden we have a patch of ground that steps down about 15cm from the main lawn. It's been covered with weed suppression membrane for many years topped with playbark. We used to have a trampoline etc here.

Under it's very compacted and clay like.

We want to remove the small sleeper retaining wall and extend the lawn and I've estimated it's about 36sqm.

I've read that ideal topsoil depth is 15cm so we have that available to us. But I'm after some general advice as it will be expensive and backbreaking work for me.

Should I use all topsoil, or is a cheaper recycled soil, at least for an initial base OK.? If I have the 15cm depth, do I need to worry about the compacted clay type soil that's there now? It's also overhung by trees. Guess I just want to know any pros/cons before I decide whether to attempt this. Thanks

 

Dig over the compacted clay, otherwise you're setting yourself up for drainage problems later.

 

Here's a video about how to make a new lawn, but with seed.