On 17/01/2014 09:24, Martin Brown wrote:
On 17/01/2014 09:11, stuart noble wrote:
On 16/01/2014 20:28, David Hill wrote:
On 16/01/2014 19:03, stuart noble wrote:
On 16/01/2014 18:16, David Hill wrote:

What you don't tell us is the diameter of the dip

I won't really know the details till I get a straightedge on it.
Needless to say, it's not a uniform dip, but I reckon probably half the
area is too low by anything from 1" to 3"

I'd be inclined to remove the turf from the deepest part and add soil
then replace the turf, then later level with a top dressing of soil and
sand to get the final level.
alternative you could always lower the outside of the lawn

Good idea. Thanks.

Just be aware that like my attempt on my first lawn to remove a smallish
hump cutting and moving turf to change the soil level and relaying is
backbreaking work and incredibly time consuming.

I'd favour as someone else suggested laying bought turf over the
existing low spots and let the edges into the existing lawn. But be
aware it will always show up as different colour/texture grass.

These instant gratification garden makeover programmes have a lot to
answer for. I reckon they should be forced to go back and show how many
of the buy & die expensive mature plants they burnt money on are still
alive in the tender care of the home owners after two or three years.

The gradual way I suggested is orders of magnitude less work!

I don't like the idea of laying turf on turf, they won't root through
that well if the underlying turf id mature.
As with all jobs it depends on the competence of the person doing the
job, and the state of the ground,which is why I recommended a
combination of raising the turf level and using a dressing of soil.
If the area is a fair size then hiring a turf cutting machine for a day
at around £30 could make the job easier, as laying properly cut turf is
a lot easier than replacing spade cut turf.
David @ a yet again wet side of Swansea Bay where we have now had almost
9 inches of rain this month.

On 17/01/2014 09:24, Martin Brown wrote:
On 17/01/2014 09:11, stuart noble wrote:
On 16/01/2014 20:28, David Hill wrote:
On 16/01/2014 19:03, stuart noble wrote:
On 16/01/2014 18:16, David Hill wrote:

What you don't tell us is the diameter of the dip

I won't really know the details till I get a straightedge on it.
Needless to say, it's not a uniform dip, but I reckon probably half the
area is too low by anything from 1" to 3"

I'd be inclined to remove the turf from the deepest part and add soil
then replace the turf, then later level with a top dressing of soil and
sand to get the final level.
alternative you could always lower the outside of the lawn

Good idea. Thanks.

Just be aware that like my attempt on my first lawn to remove a smallish
hump cutting and moving turf to change the soil level and relaying is
backbreaking work and incredibly time consuming.

I'd favour as someone else suggested laying bought turf over the
existing low spots and let the edges into the existing lawn. But be
aware it will always show up as different colour/texture grass.

These instant gratification garden makeover programmes have a lot to
answer for. I reckon they should be forced to go back and show how many
of the buy & die expensive mature plants they burnt money on are still
alive in the tender care of the home owners after two or three years.

The gradual way I suggested is orders of magnitude less work!


Point taken Martin. I'll see how I get on when the rain stops. Hopefully
there will be a window of opportunity before the paddling pools and
Wendy houses get dumped on the grass :-)

I think he's right you know.

What might surprise you to learn is how much material you require to fill such a depression. Suppose half the area is an average of 2" too low. Doing it in metric as that's easier, we get
half the lawn = 6m x 9m = 54 sq m
x 0.05m depth material
= 2.7 cu m material
the density of soil is perhaps around 2, so you are talking about at least 5 tonnes of material.

You might like to redo the above calculation once you have a clearer measure of the size of the depression.

I once bought two loads of topsoil, which were each 0.7 cu m, to raise the edge of my front lawn to conceal the edge of the new drive which had been laid and which had come out a bit higher than the old drive. I was surprised what little effet this material had once spread out on the ground. The slope of the edge of my lawn up to the new drive is therefore steeper than I would like it. I really needed about 3 times as much to achieve what I wanted. In my case I substantially killed off the old grass, as it was full of nasty weeds, and reseeded, at least where topcover was fairly deep. 8 years later it is still the best part of my front lawn...

On 17/01/2014 13:34, echinosum wrote:

Martin Brown;997568 Wrote:

The gradual way I suggested is orders of magnitude less work!

I think he's right you know.

What might surprise you to learn is how much material you require to
fill such a depression. Suppose half the area is an average of 2" too
low. Doing it in metric as that's easier, we get
half the lawn = 6m x 9m = 54 sq m
x 0.05m depth material
= 2.7 cu m material
the density of soil is perhaps around 2, so you are talking about at
least 5 tonnes of material.

You might like to redo the above calculation once you have a clearer
measure of the size of the depression.

I once bought two loads of topsoil, which were each 0.7 cu m, to raise
the edge of my front lawn to conceal the edge of the new drive which had
been laid and which had come out a bit higher than the old drive. I was
surprised what little effet this material had once spread out on the
ground. The slope of the edge of my lawn up to the new drive is
therefore steeper than I would like it. I really needed about 3 times as
much to achieve what I wanted. In my case I substantially killed off the
old grass, as it was full of nasty weeds, and reseeded, at least where
topcover was fairly deep. 8 years later it is still the best part of my
front lawn...




Good point. However, I have an excess of soil in another part of the
garden that looks about the right amount. If it's not enough, the
depression will just be less. These days I think you have to try and
work with what you have. Moving heavy stuff in or out gets expensive.
Interesting that Charlie decided on a pond when he realised how much of
it he was going to need. Water is so much cheaper! It must be hell
trying to estimate for landscaping jobs