Hi,

I have a question about topsoil / large section lawn repairs.

I've bought my first house and I know nothing about gardening. The man who used to live there left it to grow wild for years and years.

Its a reasonably large garden (corner plot) and I have removed three decent sized bushes. I dug out the turf all around the area where the bushes were. Some of the turf was dead, like moondust, and in other places it looked insect/disease ridden so I just got rid of it all (possibly I got a bit carried away).

So I've now got three big holes in my lawn 2"-3" deep. To give you an idea of size I must have taken 30 rubble sacks of turf and soil to the tip. These areas rapidly fill with weeds.

My first decision was whether to place down pre-grown turf or to put down a new layer of soil and reseed it. I'm going for the reseeding option.

My question now is whether or not to buy fresh topsoil (from B&Q probably)? The alternative is that I have a flower bed that has been dug up by one of those bad ass rotovators and I have bags of soil - but my concern is that it's full of chopped up roots/twigs...

For the top layer I'm thinking I should go for fresh topsoil?

... and my second question is whether it is too late to reseed it now, bearing in mind I live in Manchester, UK. Despite a couple of nice days this week I suspect its all cold and rain ahead.

(apologies to moderator - posted this in the wrong place - I meant to put it under 'lawns')

On Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:21:12 +0000, parkinpants
wrote:


Hi,

I have a question about topsoil / large section lawn repairs.

I've bought my first house and I know nothing about gardening. The man
who used to live there left it to grow wild for years and years.

Its a reasonably large garden (corner plot) and I have removed three
decent sized bushes. I dug out the turf all around the area where the
bushes were. Some of the turf was dead, like moondust, and in other
places it looked insect/disease ridden so I just got rid of it all
(possibly I got a bit carried away).

So I've now got three big holes in my lawn 2"-3" deep. To give you an
idea of size I must have taken 30 rubble sacks of turf and soil to the
tip. These areas rapidly fill with weeds.

My first decision was whether to place down pre-grown turf or to put
down a new layer of soil and reseed it. I'm going for the reseeding
option.

My question now is whether or not to buy fresh topsoil (from B&Q
probably)? The alternative is that I have a flower bed that has been
dug up by one of those bad ass rotovators and I have bags of soil - but
my concern is that it's full of chopped up roots/twigs...

For the top layer I'm thinking I should go for fresh topsoil?

Throwing away the soil and sod that was already there was a big
mistake, you should have tilled it all with added organic matter, now
you'll need to replace that soil.