I moved into my new house July and we were looking forward to playing in the new garden. Unfortunately the previous owners had for whatever reasons buried bags containing grass cuttings in the garden, making the whole garden on about 6 different levels.

What I want to do now as it's too cold to be playing out side is to take up all the grass (which is in clumps anyway and needs removing), remove the bags and level the soil out. Then put down some grass seed and make some planting areas. Is it advisable to do this as I am a little concerned about turning it into a quagmire...

The garden is about 35 x 35 foot square...

On Jan 19, 3:54*am, PeanutMonster PeanutMonster.
wrote:
I moved into my new house July and we were looking forward to playing in
the new garden. *Unfortunately the previous owners had for whatever
reasons buried bags containing grass cuttings in the garden, making the
whole garden on about 6 different levels. *

What I want to do now as it's too cold to be playing out side is to
take up all the grass (which is in clumps anyway and needs removing),
remove the bags and level the soil out. *Then put down some grass seed
and make some planting areas. *Is it advisable to do this as I am a
little concerned about turning it into a quagmire...

The garden is about 35 x 35 foot square...

--
PeanutMonster

If the soil is very wet, as it tends to be in many locations in
winter, you don't want to do this now. Working water saturated soil -
even walking on it a lot - will breakdown soil structure and cause
compaction. Not a good thing! Wait until it dries out before you
attempt any lawn renovation or the creation of planting beds. Looks
like you live in the UK, so planting a new lawn is something best left
until April or May anyway. Same with most northern areas of the US
also.

Are these like plastic bags of grass clippings buried under the
ground? What where they thinking??!! They should make a nice start to
a compost pile, though, once you are able to remove them (sans bags,
of course). Add some browns (dried leaves, paper, straw) and any
kitchen scraps and you'll have some nice composted soil amendment in a
few months.

April is about the earliest for sowing grass seed. Don't walk on the soil at the moment if it is frozen or very wet. In March, if the weather is warmer and drier, clear the old grass sods and the offending sacks, rake the ground as level as you can and LEAVE it for a few weeks to settle down. Rake again, trample down (i.e. walk all over it on your heels to compact the soil) and then try sowing seed in mid April. You say "playing out" - does this mean you have kids?? If so you'll have to keep them off until the seed has really got going. Have a look in your local library for a general gardening book which will give you more detail, and perhaps some photos.
It's a big job - good luck.

On Jan 19, 3:57*pm, Jangchub wrote:
On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:06:59 -0800 (PST), gardengal





wrote:
On Jan 19, 3:54*am, PeanutMonster PeanutMonster.
wrote:
I moved into my new house July and we were looking forward to playing in
the new garden. *Unfortunately the previous owners had for whatever
reasons buried bags containing grass cuttings in the garden, making the
whole garden on about 6 different levels. *

What I want to do now as it's too cold to be playing out side is to
take up all the grass (which is in clumps anyway and needs removing),
remove the bags and level the soil out. *Then put down some grass seed
and make some planting areas. *Is it advisable to do this as I am a
little concerned about turning it into a quagmire...

The garden is about 35 x 35 foot square...

--
PeanutMonster

If the soil is very wet, as it tends to be in many locations in
winter, you don't want to do this now. Working water saturated soil -
even walking on it a lot - will breakdown soil structure and cause
compaction. Not a good thing! Wait until it dries out before you
attempt any lawn renovation or the creation of planting beds. Looks
like you live in the UK, so planting a new lawn is something best left
until April or May anyway. Same with most northern areas of the US
also.

Are these like plastic bags of grass clippings buried under the
ground? What where they thinking??!! They should make a nice start to
a compost pile, though, once you are able to remove them (sans bags,
of course). Add some browns (dried leaves, paper, straw) and any
kitchen scraps and you'll have some nice composted soil amendment in a
few months.

Pam, is that you?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com/
Updated daily when able.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

yep, it's me :-))

On Jan 19, 6:54�am, PeanutMonster PeanutMonster.
wrote:
I moved into my new house July and we were looking forward to playing in
the new garden. �Unfortunately the previous owners had for whatever
reasons buried bags containing grass cuttings in the garden, making the
whole garden on about 6 different levels. �

What I want to do now as it's too cold to be playing out side is to
take up all the grass (which is in clumps anyway and needs removing),
remove the bags and level the soil out. �Then put down some grass seed
and make some planting areas. �Is it advisable to do this as I am a
little concerned about turning it into a quagmire...

The garden is about 35 x 35 foot square...

A 35' X 35' plot of lawn is a mere postage stamp... first thing you
need to do as soon as the ground becomes workable is to obtain a
rototiller. Bust it all up to 10" depth removing rocks and debris as
you go (now is the time to pick out those plastic bags). Then till
again working in plenty of organic matter, peat moss is good. Then
rake smooth, seed (decide what kind of grass), and roll... water
liberally every day. After like four weeks begin mowing... for that
size lawn I'd use a quality push reel mower. If you are looking to
use a lawn that size for play after like two weeks of romping about
you will no longer have a lawn.

On Jan 20, 5:23*am, Jangchub wrote:
On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:29:25 -0800 (PST), gardengal

wrote:
yep, it's me :-))

How've you been? *It's been years! *Still out in the PNW?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com/
Updated daily when able.

It has been a long time......and things have changed a lot here at
wreck gardens. Maybe not so much for the good, either :-) I'm fine
and still in the same place. How you doing??

On Jan 19, 6:29 pm, gardengal wrote:
On Jan 19, 3:57 pm, Jangchub wrote:



On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:06:59 -0800 (PST), gardengal



Pam, is that you?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com



yep, it's me :-))

Hi Pam!
I thought that might be you. Nice to know that you are still around.
How about sending some of that rain down here to CA. We are DRY!!
I mostly Lurk here and post occasionally.
(Hi to you too Victoria.)
Emilie
Northern CAlifornia

On Jan 20, 7:56*pm, mleblanca wrote:
On Jan 19, 6:29 pm, gardengal wrote:

On Jan 19, 3:57 pm, Jangchub wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:06:59 -0800 (PST), gardengal

Pam, is that you?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com

yep, it's me :-))

Hi Pam!
I thought that might be you. Nice to know that you are still around.
How about sending some of that rain down here to CA. We are DRY!!
I mostly Lurk here and post occasionally.
(Hi to you too Victoria.)
Emilie
Northern CAlifornia

Hi Emilie - Nice to hear from you.....it's been a long time.
Fortunately we are having a very nice long dry spell at the moment, so
I have no rain to send :-) A welcome relief after the cold, snow and
torrential flooding rains of late December!

On Jan 21, 6:18 pm, Jangchub wrote:
On Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:56:27 -0800 (PST), mleblanca



wrote:
On Jan 19, 6:29 pm, gardengal wrote:
On Jan 19, 3:57 pm, Jangchub wrote:

On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:06:59 -0800 (PST), gardengal

Pam, is that you?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com

yep, it's me :-))

Hi Pam!
I thought that might be you. Nice to know that you are still around.
How about sending some of that rain down here to CA. We are DRY!!
I mostly Lurk here and post occasionally.
(Hi to you too Victoria.)
Emilie
Northern CAlifornia

Yeah, send some rain here too! Not a drop that fell in almost a year
did anything to soak the soil around here. My water bill just for my
trees last summer was over 300 dollars. That was JUST trees.

How ya been, Em?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com/
Updated daily when able.

Hi V
Well we are doing fine. We had some rain today! Our last rain was on
Christmas Eve
with 2.5 inches. We had a grand total of .7 today, and I'm sure there
was no runoff-
it all soaked in good. With season total of 6.50 we're behind last
year's 10 inches;
which was not great at that, since our Jan 31 average is 14
inches......need to have
quite a deluge to get that in a week. Ha.

Daffodils are getting buds and so are the almond trees. I have tiny
little broccoli
florets and some "mini" spinach in the garden.

The Garden Club planted snapdragons and flowering kale at the Vets
Memorial in
the City Plaza last week, so they got a good watering today too.
Good to hear from you.

Emilie
NorCal

g'day peanut monster,

could yo do raised beds, drainage then not such an issue? once beds
are in the seed the lawn area, we have pic's on our site there may be
some ideas there for you?


On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:54:08 +0000, PeanutMonster
wrote:
snipped
With peace and brightest of blessings,

len & bev

--
"Be Content With What You Have And
May You Find Serenity and Tranquillity In
A World That You May Not Understand."

http://www.lensgarden.com.au/

On Jan 19, 9:29*pm, gardengal wrote:
On Jan 19, 3:57*pm, Jangchub wrote:





On Mon, 19 Jan 2009 08:06:59 -0800 (PST), gardengal

wrote:
On Jan 19, 3:54*am, PeanutMonster PeanutMonster.
wrote:
I moved into my new house July and we were looking forward to playing in
the new garden. *Unfortunately the previous owners had for whatever
reasons buried bags containing grass cuttings in the garden, making the
whole garden on about 6 different levels. *

What I want to do now as it's too cold to be playing out side is to
take up all the grass (which is in clumps anyway and needs removing),
remove the bags and level the soil out. *Then put down some grass seed
and make some planting areas. *Is it advisable to do this as I am a
little concerned about turning it into a quagmire...

The garden is about 35 x 35 foot square...

--
PeanutMonster

If the soil is very wet, as it tends to be in many locations in
winter, you don't want to do this now. Working water saturated soil -
even walking on it a lot - will breakdown soil structure and cause
compaction. Not a good thing! Wait until it dries out before you
attempt any lawn renovation or the creation of planting beds. Looks
like you live in the UK, so planting a new lawn is something best left
until April or May anyway. Same with most northern areas of the US
also.

Are these like plastic bags of grass clippings buried under the
ground? What where they thinking??!! They should make a nice start to
a compost pile, though, once you are able to remove them (sans bags,
of course). Add some browns (dried leaves, paper, straw) and any
kitchen scraps and you'll have some nice composted soil amendment in a
few months.

Pam, is that you?
Victoria

http://gotbodhicitta-wangmo.blogspot.com/
Updated daily when able.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

yep, it's me :-))- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

this is absolutely so cool, Pam!!! It's nice to see you again! And I
still have the Diablo ninebark you sent me. I had to whack it back
significently to dig up and move, but it's one of the few things I
didn't lose. I made sure it was one of the plants I grabbed early
when I had to relocate last spring for good. Good gardening friends
are treasures. Good to see you're name in wreck gardens again.