New garden covered in fake grass ‘

[LeoBloom]

I’ve moved into a new build house & the garden ( a big rectangle) is covered in fake grass . I am planning on ripping it up & giving it to my cousin( she’s a fan, I prefer natural gardening)there’s a layer of gravel & then black membrane underneath- I’m not an experienced gardener, but I’m wondering if I could chuck bark chips over the top / replant grass / moss - I’m not sure what to do. Apparently it’s a very soggy , water logged area , hence the gardens covered in the fake stuff. I would welcome any constructive suggestions, please. 🙏

Look into drainage options- French drains are popular in similar conditions.
Also look at what neighbouring gardens have done, you can use Google earth to see the local streets, or ask on a local Facebook group or similar. You may find there is a general issue with drainage that will affect your future plans. You can plant things like willow to help pull water from the soil , or use raised beds, but it may need more help to get the garden how you want it.

I don’t know anything about drainage and if you’d have to remove the fake grass and presumably the membrane below it to do what needs to be done.

But I was thinking the fake grass and membrane are actually a big help while you are setting up your garden as you want it to be as it will prevent weeds. If you take it all up without planting you will have a garden sized patch of weeds before very long. Any soil space without plants chosen and planted is quickly taken up by weeds.

If you research and design how you want your garden to look, you can cut out part of the fake grass and membrane as you go along saving you a lot of weeding work.

Crikey, that's very poor of the developer. It will need some top soil I would imagine. What's the ground like below the membrane? Probably rubble and clay which won't be very favourable for gardening.

I had this.

There was a thick layer of sand and then a weed proof membrane underneath.

I took up the Astro. I'm in the process of changing it to small flower beds with the membrane cut away and eventually there will be wood chip between the beds.

It was a bastard getting the membrane up.

If it's a new build I'd get the developers to remove it. It shouldn't be your problem.

Surely it must go against whatever environmental pledges the developer / local authority have?

Yes, the garden is exactly like this ! Gravel & membrane & it does seem like a bastard to pull up - I’ve tried !

Was thinking that it would need slot of top soil to lay grass over. That would’ve my dream, but I have been looking up alternatives such as a clover / moss / camomile / thyme lawn, although I’m not sure how practical this would be !

A lot of top soil

It might be worth digging a pit to see what the soil is like underneath. If it’s all rubble you will struggle and it would be worth getting a mini digger in to clear it and replace with decent topsoil. Building rubble is quite alkaline so you could get a soil test kit from Amazon and check the ph as that will affect what will grow if you leave the rubble there.

Thanks, I have already done that. It’s very thick clay and water logged soil as a result. There are a lot of stones as well , but seems fertile as there are lots of bugs & worms, so I’m guessing that’s a bonus.

If it's very waterlogged it might be worth considering gravelling the whole garden and having raised beds and pots to grow in. Unless you put in very good drainage you might find the garden unusable for a lot of the year.

Putting soil and grass on top of the fake grass won’t work . Imagine laying turf in to the pavement. It will starve of water in the summer and be waterlogged and frosted in winter. You would not be able to walk in the grass as the weight would go straight through it.

Before, adding anything, the ground such as it is needs breaking up , post build it’s probably
completely compacted,
once you have done this and have some idea of what soil you have and any drainage issues
you can then add top soil grit etc
i would keep the fake grass for now , once you have lifted it , then use it upside down to
suppress the weeds which will appear on the open ground , while you work out what’s going where . Don’t be in a rush to do something once the fake grass is up , it takes a couple of seasons to see what happens water wise ,
rainfall dry etc . especially if I suspect wet land
get some pots and grow stuff to keep you happy, until you have enough feel for the plot
I rushed into , a compacted plot planted additional soil and compost etc
6 years on still battling with the compacted earth beneath it , mine was so compressed by big machinery used for the build for the first 2 years when it rained, the whole area flooded.

Do not get too soil! I repeat do not get too soil!!!!

It's full of stones and so when you come to mow it you will struggle.

We made this mistake and had to rip the whole lot up, expensive nightmare

Top!

How big an area and how much manual work are you prepared to do?

I lifted AstroTurf over clay soil and it's hard work, but the sand /gravel is giving you the material you need to create a better draining garden. This is what I did:

1. lift all astro turf and get rid
2. separate garden into manageable sections
3. rake the gravel / sand onto a different section
4. lift membrane in section 1 (cut out with Stanley knife)
5. cut french drain and fill with some of the removed sand/gravel
6. dig over the clay soil and dig in some of the sand/ smaller gravel bits (I'm not looking for a golf course lawn so not too precious about keeping very smooth and it was more important to have the sand mixed in for drainage)
7. move into the next section of lawn
8. lay the membrane back down over the top of the finished section to minimise weeds.

I also bought a number of rubble bags to fill with the excess sand/gravel

It was very hard work and took a number of months (around work and other plans) but definitely worth it. If I were you, I'd plan to tackle it over spring / summer and then turf in autumn

Mark out some raised beds in areas and then, apart from lifting membrane, you can ignore for now.

Clay is brilliant fertile soil if you add humus. Home made cmpo, spent mushroom compost, whatever you can get your hands on.

you could look at the DEFRA flood maps. There’s some that cover surface water, and they will show whether you’ll get standing water. Otherwise, just embrace your lovely moist soil and grow plants which will like the conditions, Astilbe, Candelabra primrose. Lythrum etc

Thank you , they all sound like wonderful ideas ! I didn’t think of the possibilities of clay soil. It’s about looking at it from a new angle. I’m off to look up these plants !