On Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:57:41 +0000, Ian Dargie thedargREMOVE
wrote:


Hi guys, this my first time on here, so please be gentle with me.

I live in a south-facing three-storey tenement flat in Scotland. The
result is that the back garden gets very little sun for part of the
year, and none at all for the rest of it. Most of the back was in what
was meant to be grass, but was in fact mostly moss and weeds.
I have now lifted all the "turf", buried it, and dug the lawn site to a
depth of about a foot. To my surprise, the soil actually seems quite
good, very black and friable, and reaonably free draining. After the
first foot though, is a pan of thick yellow clay mixed with large
stones, so digging it out is vitually impossible.
Having prepared the site, my original plan was to turf it, but I'm now
wondering if seeding it with a shade-tolerant grass variety would be
more effective.

Advice/opinions are sought please on:

The advisability of digging sand into the top foot to improve drainage,
given the layer of clay beneath.
Pros & cons of turfing v seeding in the above circumstances.
Suitable varieties/mixes oif seed.

Thanks,

Ian

The fact that what you found was mostly moss and weeds is an
indication that grass isn't going to thrive. Moss loves shade and wet.
I'd certainly rule out turfing simply because decent turf is expensive
and from what you say, isn't going to survive that long.

Whilst you say you've got a foot of topsoil, a solid clay pan under
that is going to be a mega problem. With heavy rain frequent in
Scotland and your patch getting little sunlight to help water to
evaporate, you're going to find the patch getting waterlogged a fair
bit. Just digging sand into the top foot to improve drainage isn't
going to achieve much apart from helping to keep your waistline down.

Things sound a bit negative to me but let's see if we can work
something out.

First let's work out what your topsoil is made of. Have a look at the
advice at http://tinyurl.com/kdg69. Once you've worked out what your
soil is, reply to this thread and we'll go from there. It'll also help
if you let us know how big the plot is and is it level or does it
slope (a decent slope in one direction offers some promise for
drainage)? Often knowing which direction it faces helps ('cos we know
where the sunlight comes from) but from what you say it's surrounded,
and shaded, on all sides.

Cheers
Jake