Turfing a garden

[David P]

Hello there

I am hoping that someone could help me.... I am just about to turf my mum's garden.  It's about 3m sq and it has got a decked area in the middles with some bushes and shrubs around the outside of the decked area.

The idea is to take out all the bushes and shrubs (some of them are quite big), take up the decked area and basically turf the lot.. I'm not sure whether or not to hire a chipper/shredder for the bushes etc.. can you shred everything on them and would i be able to use it in my garden as a mulch?  Or are you just supposed to use the thick parts of the bushes for the shredder and mulch?

And finally with the turf is it just a case of digging down about 6 inches and putting in a membrane then filling with top soil then the turf?

Thanks for your help with this one!!

Dave

[David P]

[daitheplant]

David, Why are you taking a perfectly good garden and putting it to grass?

[hippydave]

you dont need to dig too far down and you certainly dont need membrane, if the garden doesn't get water logged just put down top soil tread it down to get the air pockets out and firm it down and level it out with a rake, then lay then lay the turf on top of that and it will do fine.

If your using the shredded material as a mulch you can shred everything as i do and use the lot, but dont mulch fruit bushes with it as when it breaks down it takes nitrogen out of the soil.

[David P]

I'm turfing the garden so that my daughter can run around it and i'm not to keen on the design of it....  I'm more of a natural garden as opposed to a landscape designed one....

Thanks for the tips!!

[cambourne7]

Were turfing an area its about 35 sq m and the price we got for buying it was £150 and for buying and laying £250 so am letting someone else take the strain :)

If the plants your pulling up are healthy why not A) cut them back and pot them up and keep in the garden or B) post on freecycle and see if anyone would like them? it will save you having to chip them and carry them away and the plants can make someone elses life better :) THere are always people wanting shrubs on our local freecycle.

[kt.]

I am turfing 90 square metres this weekend,  delivery tomorrow.  I rotovated the ground,  raked it,  then repeated the process.  I then firmed the soil and raked off the excess again.  I have some sharp sand that I will use to fill any dips in the ground and the turf will go straight on top of most of the soil.  I am just after a grassed garden, not a bowling lawn. 

I turfed the bottom half of the garden a few years ago and used sand for all of it but I don't think it makes much difference.  Depends how much you want to spend and how perfectly level you want it.

[tomatoada]

May I add don't forget to lay the turfs in an offset pattern.  Like brickwork.   Just lay the first roll of turf out and cut the one that goes next to it in half crossways not lengthways.  Use the first half one end and the other at the other end so you don't get joins across.  Hope this makes sense.

[abednall]

Hi Dave

I think your idea of turfing over the area to make a play area is a good one. When buying the turf ensure you ask for some hard wearing grass as it sounds like it will be walked on quite a bit. Also, as we are coming up towards the summer you will need to do lots of regular watering (every day) if it does not rain. If the turf does not get enough water it can shrink leaving gaps between turfs.

A good guide to turfing and lawn care can be found on this site http://www.seasonalgardening.co.uk/april_lawns.html

[ipt8]

Chipper/shredder machines vary a lot. I would hire one for a day and tell them what you want it for.
It wont do roots and soil.
The resulting chips/shredded material is best composted for several years as it uses up nitrogen in the soil whilst it is rotting down.
Your soil will be very loose after digging up the shrubs so firm it really well as it will settle and give you dips in the lawn.
Wait till it rains before turfing, we have had one half hour shower here in the last 8 weeks.
You only need to work the top two or three inches for seeding or turf, and tread it down really well then rake it levell.
Have fun

[tomatoada]

Also remember not to walk on it for about 4 weeks to give the grass time to anchour its roots.

[cambourne7]

Just been very pleased with the quote i had for someone to come and rotovate and lay the tuft for me :) only £90 extra for them to do the work ! would cost me more than that in hiring the rotovator and grief from the other half :)

Hope it all goes well for you all :)