I want lawn in my back garden, so far there is only concrete, advice needed

[babloogirl]

the title says it all, I want to grow lawn in my garden but there is only concrete so far,

my questions are

• how thick does the soil needs to be?
• how long does it take for it to fully grow
• and any other advice would be great as I have never grown anything

[Kathyjelly]

Grass will grow quite happily in an inch or two of soil. However, if there's not much soil, it dries out really quickly so you'll have to water it in a drought. And the grass gets it's nutrients from the soil so on shallow soil, you'll have to feed it every year or two as well.

Depending on how big your garden is, I'd be tempted to drill through a patch of concrete and dig over the soil, before dumping some bought-in topsoil on top and then scattering grass seed.

It depends how big an area you are thinking of.

[babloogirl]

Thanks for your reply, I know that drilling through concrete would be better but as I am only renting the place I don't want to start heavy duty works.

the area is about 16square meters maybe a little bit smaller.

[ButterPie]

Do you know you would be allowed if you are renting? I know I wouldn't.

[babloogirl]

ButterPie, do you mean allowed to have some lawn or to drill through the concrete?

[ButterPie]

Both. I would say covering the concrete in soil would affect the concrete underneath, and is at least as drastic as painting a wall, for which we need permission.

[babloogirl]

Well I wouldn't drill through concrete and I know he wouldn't agree to, but covering the concrete he doesn't mind. I guess I am lucky because not all landlord would agree to that.

I now need to figure out how many soil bags I need.

[Pannacotta]

COuld you have decking instead?
Not convinced that putting turf over concrete will work, even if you use top soil under it.

[Kathyjelly]

The only other thing I've seen is a "microlawn" which was basically a huge old metal container about 4' by 3' that a friend had filled with soil to the top and grassed over.

Then she put a load of normal pots with bulbs and flowers in around it and ended up with a tiny garden. She had to cut the lawn with scissors which used to crack me up but she said it was the ultimate stress relief after a busy week.

[isthatporridgeinyourzone]

I don't think turfing over concrete will work particularly well because you are very unlikely to be able to retain enough moisture or nutrients in the soil even if you water it. You will need more than a couple of inches of soil - we have a 200sqm turf roof on our house and that has almost 1ft of soil to grow into plus there are a number of other layers to retain moisture. Even for 16 sqm that's a lot of soil and if it doesn't work you'll have to get rid of it.

[Pannacotta]

You could try Astroturf but it is quite pricey I think...

[GrendelsMum]

(Getting off topic) - Porridge - you've got a big green roof? I'm so, so jealous.

[isthatporridgeinyourzone]

at GM. It's like telly tubby hill.

[babloogirl]

thanks all for reply, we are getting a decking and the turf was to be around the decking (L-shaped area). So I will forget about turf as it seems that it won't really work,

I have had a look at astroturf but as you say it is quite pricey. I will have a look on ebay, who knows.

If not I will keep my concrete

[MrsL123]

I would build a raised bed about the same height as your decking, fill it with soil and plant some greenery. All the garden centres are full of raised bed kits at the moment, but you could make your own (even out of decking boards). If you want that all-over green look instead of individual plants, 'Mind your own business' spreads very fast to form a carpet and does well in shallow beds. You have to water it a lot but it only grows to about 5cm so no trimming required.

Or if you just want something softer than concrete around the decking you could always use bark chips - you can get them in different colours now, but I quite like boring brown! A few pots with some greenery in and it'd look lovely.

[babloogirl]

MrsL123, do you mean building like a wooden box (without a lid of course) and then filling it up with soil and then seeding grass?

[MrsL123]

Yes - something like this. You could put grass in them but they look lovely when they're planted up and most plants do really well in them because you can control the type of soil, amount of water etc - rather than putting them in the ground and dealing with what you've got. You can make them as high as you like too. We're in the process of redoing our own garden and have decided to fill one of the borders with a row of raised beds (about 6 meters long and 1m wide). You could build them so they were freestanding, or bolt them to the concrete wwith fence post fixings.

If you don't feel able to build them yourself you can buy the kits online. This one is 2.4 x 1.2 meters and it's only £45.

[dandycandyjellybean]

it isn't just about it not getting enough nutrients, it needs good drainage as well we lawned 1/2 of our yard done by a gardener with loads of topsoil first, but it doesnt drain well and is a boggy mess for about 8 months of the year...don't do it. Am desperate to rip it up and deck, but you know men and their lawns!!!!