"M Smith" wrote in message ...
Hi there.

I was wondering if anyone could help me. I've recently levelled my garden
(best I can) as I live on a hill. All I'm left with now is hard uneven clay
and I want to put turf down. I've had advised to level the clay with
chipping which will also provide drainage, but I've also been told not to
use chippings but to use top soil. I've no idea which to use, can anyone
help?

My instinct says topsoil; but it's usually expensive, and sometimes
not very good. The textbook solution is probably sandy loam. But
working in a bit of organic matter may be all you need to do.

"Chippings" suggests quite big pieces of stone to me: coarse grit or
even sharp sand would be better. I've got experience on this, as one
of my lawns is on top of six inches of crusher-run limestone. This is
great for a flower "meadow", but for normal lawn purposes it's far too
poor; where the chunks are near the surface the grass dies off in dry
weather, and you can feel them through the soles of your shoes. (In
any case, if we're being really fussy, lawns like it neutral to
slightly acid.)

Is your clay subsoil, or just clayey topsoil? If the latter, it should
already be fit to support turf: best to break it up fine first. This
may be one of the few cases where a rotavator would actually be a good
thing: you can rake the area smooth afterwards, and leave it to settle
for a few weeks before the turf or seed goes on. During the settling
period you'll be able to get out the weeds which the rotavator will
inevitably have propagated. If we're working on exposed subsoil, a bit
of organic material can be mixed in at the same time -- if we're not
talking about a football pitch, even just a few quid's worth of the
cheapest grow-bags could be enough to help the roots along (consider
what you'd pay for topsoil, and see how many growbags you could get!).
After doing this, you may find that your levelling problem has
disappeared, or come down to a trivial size.

Dos and don'ts may be available free of charge just by looking over
the fence at what's happened for the neighbours if you have any.

Mike.