Astroturf / Crushed Granite / What To Do

[FarFarAwayB]

Hi, there's Astroturf in the garden of our new house and I hate it. Not sure what to do about it though. It seems to be high quality and is flat and smooth. Doesn't have standing water on it when it rains heavily, like my neighbours' real lawns

It is not glued or nailed down, and is easy to peel back. Underneath is compacted crushed granite, and underneath that is what appears to a layer of horticultural grit/sand (not builders sand which poisons plants I think).

There are worms on top (although they burrow down when the AT comes off), so there can't be any sort of plastic barrier further down.

Can we take the AT up, lay some simple paved paths down on the compacted granite and put compost/top soil down where we'd like to start off some flowerbeds?

Anyone got any experience of doing similar? Any advice or suggestions on what to do gratefully recieved.

TIA

Hello! I basically could have written your post! We have exactly the same situation with our new garden. We are having to live with it at the moment , as don't have any spare funds to make improvements but I'm spending my time planning what I will do and learning where the sunniest bits of the garden are etc.

I'm planning to take the plastic up, get rid of the sand and the weed membrane, then just kind of dig into the compacted rubble where I want my flower beds to be, add some topsoil, but leave the compacted rubble as a base for paths and seating area and just put gravel on top of it. In my head it seems like an easy plan but I'm sure something will go wrong along the way which is why I'm a bit frightened of starting!

I'm planning on growing drought resistant plants and things that basically don't mind poor quality soil, so it won't matter too much if there's some rubble mixed in with the top soil.

Trying to do it as cheaply as possible, so don't want to hire a skip unless I absolutely have to.

In my head it is going to eventually look like the Beth chatto garden, (obvs on a much smaller scale!) hopefully the reality won't be too much of a disaster!

Maybe we can share notes?

Also, a gardener on Twitter I follow said they had successfully just put compost down directly onto the rubble substrate without digging into it. They said they had also done a garden where they just planted directly into the rubble substrate without adding any additional soil to what was in the pot the plant came in but I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to do that.

@Wonderfulcheapfalafel. Yes, please let’s keep in touch. We’re worried about how much it might cost to get it all taken out professionally and equally worried we’ll make a big (expensive) mess if we do it ourselves.

How big is your patch? I spent hours yesterday marking out possible paths and beds using the garden hose and some left over bricks. I didn’t like any of the layouts, but took photographs from the upstairs window in the hope inspiration might strike when we look back at them.

We need to put a shed in too, and can’t decide if we should hide it in the corner or make it a ‘destination’. After the stress of moving we seem to have decision paralysis!

Have you thought of putting in raised beds?

Is the crushed granite loose enough to make holes big enough to plant in? Your description just makes me think about desert gardens without lawns.

Hi @SleepyHedgehog

Have you got/had astroturf?
yes the granite is easy to dig up and generally move around. Should I dig some up, mixed it with compost and try to grow something in it?

Pics would be helpful. You can lay patio onto the granite if it's compacted enough, which I assume it is if you're astro is smooth.

@Morechocmorechoc

Thanks for the response.

The granite is smooth, flat and has been compacted. The majority of the garden is patio with astroturf covering the middle and smallish shrub borders around two sides with trees at the bottom.

We don’t like the plastic grass and don’t want to replace it with another hard (nature unfriendly ) surface.

Hey!
I have not got/had it (wish it was banned) but enjoy experimenting so I would just have a go. There is always a way to create something lovely, even if it wasn't what you would ideally want. Many cacti will literally grow in literally sand mixed with gravel, so you may not need much compost at all as long as there is space for the roots to grow down. There are some beautiful grasses of various sizes for structure, hardy cacti for funky interest, and pretty delicate alpine plants for colour (inspiration pic https://arboretumfoundation.org/2019/09/24/desert-garden/ the RHS website has sections on rock gardening and gravel gardening too). If you can get the right mix you would end up with a drought proof low maintenance garden. Some plants actively hate the high nutrition in compost and will choose to rot and die, gravel type stuff might be perfect for them. Agree pics would be helpful.

Ah just seen its a smaller central area, maybe sedum style cover over the gravel if you are trying to avoid full scale removal

No advice but hurrah for the AT going. It's awful stuff.

Hi @FarFarAwayB , sorry I forgot to check this thread again after posting... Ours is quite a big area, but an awkward shape due to where the gate and shed are. I have little windy gravel paths in my head, but still need to work out the best place for table and chairs to go etc. I will take a photo of my current plans to share if you like?

I did think of raised beds , as these can probably just go straight on top of the hardcore layer but I prefer a more natural look I think.. although raised beds alos look nice but more work involved potentially.

I don't think we'll need to pay anyone to help with my plan as me and DH both reasonably fit , just might need to pay for a skip or do 100 trips to the tip... Unless we can incorporate the rubble into the design. Lots of plants like poor quality soil so going to concentrate on them.

It is so annoying that the previous owners thought this was a good idea 😭

Great you’re getting rid of the AT. Awful stuff environmentally and hideous to look at

Hi @FarFarAwayB I just thought I'd show you my expanse of plastic and show you what I think I'm going to do ... The outlined bits are going to be beds, the rest will be filled in with gravel...
I wanted a feel of little paths with a couple of different places to sit. Need to replace some of the shrubs ( previous owners LOVED forsythia) but hoping this layout will work?

Interested in others thoughts!

Will have a Mediterranean, Beth Chatto -esque planting scheme....