On May 14, 8:53*am, "Andy" wrote:
"Rod" wrote in message

...





On May 13, 8:08 am, "Andy" wrote:
Hi all,

I think that I've missed the boat regards sowing a new lawn from seed and
to
be honest, I would prefer to lay turf.... but.... being currently
unemployed
means that I don't have the funds to buy turf.

Get the full picture atwww.mygardenproject.co.uk/lawn.php

Have a great day

Andy

Seed's better - sow it now. It's been way too dry until now and you'll
have grass in a couple of weeks if the weather stays like this.

Rod

Hi Rod,

Here's the rub... The ground where the lawn is going to be is still very
stony and needs a layer of topsoil (turf wouldn't), but due to lack of
funds, I can't afford said topsoil. So, with this in mind I decided to buy a
sieve and use it to remove the stones from the excavated soil... but... the
current damp weather has made the soil impossible to sieve!

Andy- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have to tell you Andy that if I sieved the soil in my garden free of
stones there'd be nothing left. Is it possible to fork it over to the
depth of a small border fork and then rake.? If it's that stony you
ought to be able to do that even if it is a bit damp. By carefully
raking with a light touch (takes a bit of practice) you should be able
to 'lose' a lot of stones under the fine tilth you're creating and
just remove the bigger ones. I take it we are on domestic lawns here,
not fine playing surfaces which are a different game altogether. Then
treading over your area after the first raking and then raking again
with a bit of general fertilizer added should be OK for a general
purpose lawn. Don't buy expensive or very cheap seed. The normal
domestic lawn seed should contain a high proportion of dwarf Ryegrass,
don't panic, this isn't the great big broad leaved fast growing
Ryegrass that farmers use, it's been bred and selected for good
colour, drought resistance and compact slow growth - it's also hard
wearing.
Please remember, a lawn is a community of mainly grasses (plants) so
you need good drainage and a reasonably firm but permeable rootzone,
you don't need to get it hard enough to drive a truck on - nothing
will grow well on that. I'm watching that happening across the road
from me and he's a guy who doesn't welcome advice :~# so it's a good
spectator sport at least.
Oh - and turf needs a good 'seedbed' as well contrary to general
opinion.

Rod