New Lawn after bricks, help

Discussion in 'Lawns' started by jamkellew, May 2, 2012.

  1. jamkellew

    jamkellew Apprentice Gardener

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    Evening everyone, newbie here, Im after some advice please,I bought a house with a bricked back garden, Ive now decided to return it to how it was by relawning it, the garden was previously grass but the previous owner had the garden bricked over, now ive removed all the bricks and the few inches of sand underneath the bricks, the surface is now compacted ballast, now the question is can I simply soil over the compacted ballast or do I need to remove all the ballast and add new soil, I originally wanted to remove the ballast but it looks like theres about 6 inches of it and it will take forever to remove, so is it possible to simply soil over the ballast and get a new lawn growing, many thanks in advance for any replies.
     
  2. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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    It all depends on the levels. You are going to need 12" of soil as a minimum, is that going to raise it too high?

    Personally I'd take up the ballast, otherwise you will end up with a poor lawn that will quickly go brown in any dry weather.

    If you don't take up the ballast then it will need loosening, so that the grass roots can get into it.
     
  3. JWK

    JWK Gardener Staff Member

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    PS: Have you looked under the ballast? There might be some decent soil if you are lucky.
     
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