Turning vegetable beds into lawn?

Hi guys first time poster here hoping for abit of advice.

I'm a complete amateur when it comes to gardening, not afraid of hard work but not to clued up about how to implement it.


I've just brought my first house and with having a young child I'm trying to turn the vegetable beds and concrete path etc into one lawn.

The soil seems to be good as it was growing spring onions(I think) and other vegetables before.

What I would like to do is to level of the yard using some rubble(bricks) and then topsoil on top. Then either seed it or use turf to make the lawn.



A few questions I would like to know is firstly will it work?

Will a few concrete blocks at the edge of the lawn stop the lawn sinking into the hedges?

There is some small plants still in the soil, do I need to make sure the soil is completely clear of these or will the soil/grass stop these from growing through?

Do I need to mix some sand in with the soil to help with drainage?

And I have cut edges etc so can I use them to put under the soil as they will eventually turn into compost?

 

Hello and welcome

I'm not the lawn expert here but I've renovated one or two and established on from scratch. I also built (should read 'am building') my garden with my young son (and any future siblings) in mind. I've been building it for 3 years now, and have learned a thing or two about gardens for kids.

The first thing to think about, is do you really want most of the garden to be lawn? You need a lawn, where else would you kick a ball about etc, but kids love to explore, and an expanse of lawn alone doesn't offer any exploration opportunities.

On to your questions now, here goes.

I wouldn't. It will make life a nightmare if you ever decide to do anything to the lawn. If you decide to dig a bit to do a flower bed, hard manual graft. If you want to knock a fence post in to section your garden off, sods law quite clearly states that the great lump of hardcore closest to the surface will actually be exactly where you want to put the post. If you plan to do any hard landscaping (patios etc) I'd keep the rubble for the foundations for that, otherwise I'd chuck it in a skip or give it away.

No. It will make it easier to demarcate lawn territory from hedge territory. I've used a load of old bricks sunk flush with the floor around my lawn. My lad imagines its a railway track and puts old bits of wood next to it for stations etc

I use it a 'no mans land' for the lawn. If the grass (on one side) or other plants (on other side) stray over the bricks, they are fair game for being brutally chopped.

I'd pull them out. Once the area becomes lawn they'll have to go anyway. Thorough preparation is key. Remember, if you're putting a lawn there, this is your only chance to get the ground right without destroying your new lawn. Once the grass is there, you can't get under it without harming the grass. A bit of effort up front will pay dividends in future.

Depends. Is there a problem with drainage? I doubt there will be given that it looks like vegs were successfully grown there. If the ground is poor, or if its clay with no structure left (again, unlikely seeing as vegs were grown there) then it would be wise to add a load of bulky organic matter like rotted manure, compost or, spent mushroom compost (which is cheap and excellent).

No. Especially as it looks like privet. There are two reasons (that I know of) why not. Firstly, your new grass wont like it. As stuff decomposes, it takes nitrogen from the ground. Grass likes nitrogen, and in fact can't grow without it, so less nitrogen = less grass growth. The other reason is that as it decomposes it will significantly shrink, so your new lawn will sink. Note I said 'especially as it looks like privet'. Privet has fairly waxy leaves, and like most plants with waxy leaves, take a long time to break down, which means a longer time that nitrogen is being robbed from the soil to fuel the decomposition process.

I'd put the hedge trimmings in the green waste bin.

 

Thanks for the reply much appreciated.

The reason I asked about the sand is that I read that just topsoil will make the lawn really hard?

Also if I wanted to go closer to the hedges what do you or anyone recommend to stop the lawn falling apart at the edges?

 

What can happen is if the soil is heavy clay, it becomes excessively compacted and then in summer it is as hard as concrete. I know, I had to dig a whole garden of it by hand when I bought this place

Good quality soil, which you will most likely have seeing as veggies were grown, most likely wont need anything. If it was heavy clay, I'd go with compost over sand, as unless you use huge amounts of the stuff, its not going to help anyway (in my opinion).

The lawn wont fall apart at the edges. Grass is tough stuff. What will happen if you don't have any edging (and don't have the time to trim the edges regularly) is that the grass will migrate into the hedge area. It wont harm the hedge, other than making it harder for the hedge to find water but I can't see that being a problem with an established hedge, but it will be a nightmare to mow, resulting in a patch of long 'wild' grass at the edge. I like that and have done it deliberately in part of my garden, but some people think it looks scruffy. Its a matter of personal taste I guess.

By using some edging of some sort, it is much easier to control the grass from migrating into the hedge. Thing is, if you use something that is higher than flush with the ground, then the mower wont get it so it will grow long there anyway unless you get the strimmer on it.

 

Thanks a million, I'm going to make a start over the next few days.

How much soil does grass need to grow. For example above the concrete path?

 

Grass needs a root run of six inches deep, minimum. A foot preferably. Ideally though, not on concrete at all!

 

Don't do that. It will only lead to frustration and disappointment. If you leave the concrete path underneath, it will act as a barrier preventing drainage so your lawn will just end up a soggy mess after a few good British summers. If you want a lawn, the concrete has to go. It's not as hard as it sounds. A few good belts with a sledgehammer and it will just start to shatter, then you can just lift it out with a pick. Its a few hours work, but you'll get all those hours and more back later when you don't have to keep finding workarounds to innumerable problems.

 

Thanks guys I think you've just saved me hours of trouble in the future. Il be digging up the path tomorrow.

 

How it is now.


Some of the concrete that was removed.


Bit of a bump as I've not posted in a while but thought id update to how I'm getting along as well as a few questions.

After spending last summer digging up about 12 tons of concrete following the advice on this thread the end is in sight.

All that's left to do is place some top soil at the back, remove slabs from remaing path and build small extension to wall and level soil.

What I would like to know though is should I put down any weed killer as I had a few plants and weeds re grow over the spring months. But I'm worried the weed killer could damage the turf when laid?

Also what is the best way to get it level, just raking?

 

Wow, good effort! Glad to see the hedge got a good chop too.

 

I know you asked this last year, but in case helpful:

Do you need a "smart straight edge" next to the hedge? If not the shade etc. from the hedge will cause the grass to peter out close to it - you might get some weeds along the edge between lawn and hedge, but you will be able to just murder those!

I would definitely put weed killer down. It will stop the weeds growing through the turf after it is laid. Make sure you use a Glyphosate based weedkiller (such as Roundup) as it does NOT persist after it touches the soil. It will kill anything green it touches, so be careful not to get it on anything you want to keep, nor to let it drift on the wind.

I tow a ladder over new lawn areas. I tie a rope to the end rungs and tow that; if it skates over the top I put a few heavy blocks on the ladder until it is dragging an inch or so of the top soil with it. Tow it front-to-back and left-to-right until it is all "smooth" (presumably "level" as in spirit-level is not required, but just "smooth")

Note that soil preparation is the same whether turf or seed - you can't skimp on preparation just 'coz it is turf (I know you had advice earlier, but just double checking no sense you going to all this trouble to lay a lawn and then it turns out badly 'coz of insufficient preparation)

Personal view: I hate turf. Very environmentally unfriendly digging up an inch or so of best fenland topsoil ever couple of years and lugging it halfway across the country ... seed is a lot cheaper, plus you can choose a variety suitable for the lawn - from bowling green to kick-about pitch. Getting late to be sowing a lawn though - far too late now, but last Autumn would have been the ideal time (weed seed shutting down thus the grass seed has all winter to establish before weeds start up again in the Spring).