I've recently moved house and have a 30m2 patch of ground that I want to sow a lawn on. The top 10m2 or so used to have a patio laid on top of it so it is really sandy, maybe 3 inches or so of sand before you reach any type of soil.

The rest of the ground is generally slightly sandy and quite compact.

What should I do to prepare this ground for sowing grass seed on?

This is what I was thinking, please correct me if I am doing anything stupid or if I'm on totally the wrong track(first time attempting this):
Remove most of the sand from the area where the patio used to be.
Use a shovel all over and turn the soil over.
Rake it level.
Remove as much stone and rubble as possible.
Get a jumbo bag of topsoil and spread it all over(should this be worked in?)
Rake, level, seed?

Any help would be great, thanks

In article ,
welly_59 wrote:

I've recently moved house and have a 30m2 patch of ground that I want to
sow a lawn on. The top 10m2 or so used to have a patio laid on top of it
so it is really sandy, maybe 3 inches or so of sand before you reach any
type of soil.

The rest of the ground is generally slightly sandy and quite compact.

What should I do to prepare this ground for sowing grass seed on?

Dig it over, remove stones and level it. Grass likes sandy soil.
If it is VERY poor, adding some topsoil might help.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

On 28/06/2014 00:45, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
welly_59 wrote:

I've recently moved house and have a 30m2 patch of ground that I want to
sow a lawn on. The top 10m2 or so used to have a patio laid on top of it
so it is really sandy, maybe 3 inches or so of sand before you reach any
type of soil.

The rest of the ground is generally slightly sandy and quite compact.

What should I do to prepare this ground for sowing grass seed on?

Dig it over, remove stones and level it. Grass likes sandy soil.
If it is VERY poor, adding some topsoil might help.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

What sort of soil do you have under the sand.
Have you thought about turf?

I put some seed down about a month ago and the very sandy patches have no growth at all, it's drying out too fast. Where the patio was I can literally take a layer of sand off with a shovel.

I've thought of turf but if I can seed it myself I will try that first

On 2014-06-28 06:04:16 +0000, welly_59 said:

David Hill;1004341 Wrote:
On 28/06/2014 00:45, Nick Maclaren wrote:-
In article ,
welly_59 wrote:-

I've recently moved house and have a 30m2 patch of ground that I want
to
sow a lawn on. The top 10m2 or so used to have a patio laid on top of
it
so it is really sandy, maybe 3 inches or so of sand before you reach
any
type of soil.

The rest of the ground is generally slightly sandy and quite compact.

What should I do to prepare this ground for sowing grass seed on?-

Dig it over, remove stones and level it. Grass likes sandy soil.
If it is VERY poor, adding some topsoil might help.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.
-
What sort of soil do you have under the sand.
Have you thought about turf?

I put some seed down about a month ago and the very sandy patches have
no growth at all, it's drying out too fast. Where the patio was I can
literally take a layer of sand off with a shovel.

I've thought of turf but if I can seed it myself I will try that first

You could put some wet compost into a wheelbarrow, mix the seed into
it, put it back into compost bags loosely rolled over at the top.
After a day or three, when the seed has germinated, scatter it. You can
see where you've been and the birds are less likely to eat it. You
could also wait until September when the weather is more likely to
water it for you but the soil is still warm. In current weather, it
could need a lot of watering, especially in dry spells!
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On 28/06/2014 00:45, Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
welly_59 wrote:

I've recently moved house and have a 30m2 patch of ground that I want to
sow a lawn on. The top 10m2 or so used to have a patio laid on top of it
so it is really sandy, maybe 3 inches or so of sand before you reach any
type of soil.

The rest of the ground is generally slightly sandy and quite compact.

What should I do to prepare this ground for sowing grass seed on?

Dig it over, remove stones and level it. Grass likes sandy soil.
If it is VERY poor, adding some topsoil might help.

Or spent mushroom compost available locally in bulk and cheaply. I'm
with Nick on this as digging in the sand in help the drainage.

Now is a tricky time to sow a new lawn unless you can be sure of three
weeks of solid rain (and Wimbledon fortnight isn't long enough).

You could end up having to do a lot of watering until it establishes by
sowing at the hottest time of the year. Preparing the ground well during
the summer and letting any weed seeds germinate for a while first and
then sowing grass in September might be the best way forward.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown

Thanks all, it'll probably take a month to get the ground ready anyway so I'll aim for end of august/September for sowing