Advice please -- new lawn very soft
 

Hi All

Last October we had our large, bumpy front garden levelled and
imported a lot of good quality top soil. This was grass-seeded, and
now has a very impressive looking growth.

Trouble is, the ground is very soft to walk on. We've kept off it as
much as possible, but you would sink in an inch or two if you walked
across it.

So the question is: should we try to compact the soil by rolling it?
Or would this just kill/damage the new grass? Or will it naturally
compact and harden in time?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Will

Advice please -- new lawn very soft
 

says...
Hi All

Last October we had our large, bumpy front garden levelled and
imported a lot of good quality top soil. This was grass-seeded, and
now has a very impressive looking growth.

Trouble is, the ground is very soft to walk on. We've kept off it as
much as possible, but you would sink in an inch or two if you walked
across it.

So the question is: should we try to compact the soil by rolling it?
Or would this just kill/damage the new grass? Or will it naturally
compact and harden in time?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Will

Was the ground properly firmed down initially before the
seed was sowed?

I've created several lawns over the last couple of years -
my Mrs is the expert with this and after raking the ground
flat she gets me shuffling along with my boots on
compacting the entire area before sprinkling the seed,
which is then very lightly raked in.
--
David in Normandy.
To e-mail you must include the password FROG on the
subject line, or it will be automatically deleted.

Advice please -- new lawn very soft
 

wrote in message
...
Hi All

Last October we had our large, bumpy front garden levelled and
imported a lot of good quality top soil. This was grass-seeded, and
now has a very impressive looking growth.

Trouble is, the ground is very soft to walk on. We've kept off it as
much as possible, but you would sink in an inch or two if you walked
across it.

So the question is: should we try to compact the soil by rolling it?
Or would this just kill/damage the new grass? Or will it naturally
compact and harden in time?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Will

You should have compacted it before sowing, suppose if you could roller it
or compact in someway in early spring it would probably be OK

Advice please -- new lawn very soft
 

On 11 Feb, 12:14, David in Normandy wrote:
*says...
Was the ground properly firmed down initially before the
seed was sowed?


I'm not sure, to be honest. I guess I can get the guys who did it back
in and ask them.

Advice please -- new lawn very soft
 

On Feb 11, 12:52*pm, wrote:
On 11 Feb, 12:14, David in Normandy wrote: *says...
Was the ground properly firmed down initially before the
seed was sowed?

I'm not sure, to be honest. I guess I can get the guys who did it back
in and ask them.

It can take a little while for the new soil to form more of a single
entity. My new lawn would be soft in wet weather but now that's it's
been down for a year or so it's firmed up and the drainage has
actually improved. ...but yours sounds like maybe it wasn't compacted
enough from the start.

Advice please -- new lawn very soft
 

In article 1396fa00-15ef-42e5-bb98-
, says...
On 11 Feb, 12:14, David in Normandy wrote:
*says...
Was the ground properly firmed down initially before the
seed was sowed?


I'm not sure, to be honest. I guess I can get the guys who did it back
in and ask them.

After a few days dry, try just strolling back and forth, it will firm up
with time even if it was not properly firmed to start with, you could
also try a light roller, but avoid any thing heavy with wheels.
I filled a coulple of low spots back in the Autumn and am not starting to
walk across them and cut (but with the blades higher) I am no lawn expert
but grass is pretty hard to do permant damage to
--
Charlie Pridham, Gardening in Cornwall
www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of national collections of Clematis viticella cultivars and
Lapageria rosea

They may have firmed the soil down but left quite a deep tilth for sowing into.
The 'loose' effect could have been made worse by recent frosts which expand the soil surface and effectively fluff it up. That is one of the reasons farmers roll their grass fields in the spring, to firm it back down.

Once the ground is reasonably dry I would give it a couple of light rolls to firm the top a little. The establishing grass roots will also help to bare more weight in time.
If you roll or tread down wet ground you run the risk of sealing the surface.
Air can't get in or out, water will sit on the surface and you will possibly end up with very yellow grass and worse still, moss. Timing is everything.