# What a mess



## rob267

Need some help here.








Been living here nearly 2 years now and the grass is a state.
It was laid when we moved in.(new build). The problem is the grass never really gets much sun on it so is always wet. 
I used grass seed last year and it looked ok in the summer but now i have got this mud pit again.

Any tips or recommendations on how to sort of the patchwork of grass.

Was thinking of getting more seed.
The grass that is there grows fine but i am really struggling to get the grass to grow everywhere?

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## Kerr

If you had the grass on the ground and not in the sky it wouldn't fall out. Gravity is a killer.


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## Soul boy 68

Scatter some grass seeds and water it frequently until well established. I had to stand on my head to see the picture. :wall: :lol:


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## rob267

Soul boy 68 said:


> Scatter some grass seeds and water it frequently until well established. I had to stand on my head to see the picture. :wall:
> 
> View attachment 50128


I dont think it needs anymore water. I think the problem is that it is constantly wet.

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## rob267

I dont know why my phone does this with pics. Why do you think my profile pic is of beads. 

Cant tell that it is upside down😂😂

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## rob267

Kerr said:


> If you had the grass on the ground and not in the sky it wouldn't fall out. Gravity is a killer.


Brilliant. Thats the problem😂😂
Made me laugh matey

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## rob267

Better?

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## rob267

Ok stupid phone.

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## rob267

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## rob267

Yey. Now what to do with it? A ton of seed? 😀

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## Soul boy 68

rob267 said:


> Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


Hooray, my blood doesn't need to rush to my head now :lol: and yes, chuck more seeds down and see how things fair. Try changing your avatar now so the beading is showing the right way round :lol:


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## rob267

Soul boy 68 said:


> Hooray, my blood doesn't need to rush to my head now  and yes, chuck more seeds down and see how things fair. Try changing your avatar now so the beading is showing the right way round
> 
> View attachment 50129


Oh bug*** off😉😉😉

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## Soul boy 68

rob267 said:


> Oh bug*** off&#55357;&#56841;&#55357;&#56841;&#55357;&#56841;
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


:lol::lol: joking aside the seeds should do the trick, but I am in no way an expert gardener.


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## Sim

No expert here....

But it looks like it's the drainage, or lack of causing the problem. We had similar issues in a much older house with really heavy clay based soil.

After having the turf relaid twice we ended up having artificial installed last year. It's something we would recommend. Never gets muddy, always looks good and means we can use the garden all the time.


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## rob267

Sim said:


> No expert here....
> 
> But it looks like it's the drainage, or lack of causing the problem. We had similar issues in a much older house with really heavy clay based soil.
> 
> After having the turf relaid twice we ended up having artificial installed last year. It's something we would recommend. Never gets muddy, always looks good and means we can use the garden all the time.


Thats what i think. Any idea on how to improve drainage?

Next door have artificial grass and it does look good i have to admit.

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## goat

you need to improve drainage. some advice here which might prove useful

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=204


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## rob267

goat said:


> you need to improve drainage. some advice here which might prove useful
> 
> https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=204


Cheers buddy. Doesnt help that that the grass area gets next to no sun either.

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## Paul04

You should contact your builder to get this this fixed. My neighbour had the same problem when they moved in (new build) and the got some drainage put in. since youve been in two years they might not play ball. You could get NHBC involved?


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## rob267

Paul04 said:


> You should contact your builder to get this this fixed. My neighbour had the same problem when they moved in (new build) and the got some drainage put in. since youve been in two years they might not play ball. You could get NHBC involved?


Unfortunately it is a rented house so the housing association wont hive a toss buddy.

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## GleemSpray

Do it the old fashioned way - buy a garden fork and dig lots of rows of holes to aerate it and encourage the worms.

Or buy something built for the job...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8...&hvtargid=kwd-21882511&ref=pd_sl_82pn7pxjil_b


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## Starbuck88

GleemSpray said:


> Do it the old fashioned way - buy a garden fork and dig lots of rows of holes to aerate it and encourage the worms.
> 
> Or buy something built for the job...
> 
> https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8...&hvtargid=kwd-21882511&ref=pd_sl_82pn7pxjil_b


This ^^^

I have heavy clay soil in a new build too. The grass hasn't faired too well over winter but it is still grass and much better than I was expecting.

Before I laid the grass I mixed in some good quality soil and sand...

This year probably end of march or april, weather depending I'm going to scarify it, to pull out all the dead grass (thatch) I'm going to also hire an aerator that will pull out big plugs of soil which I am expecting to be compacted now and quite dense as I didn't use enough decent soil back when I laid the turf.

Then those holes the aerator makes, I'm going to fill with sand and soil.

Then...some shade tolerant seed. I have the same issue in that over the winter months...the whole garden doesn't get sun.

If you have a bit of a slope or a particularly soggy area a french drain will work wonders.


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## Sim

rob267 said:


> Thats what i think. Any idea on how to improve drainage?
> 
> Next door have artificial grass and it does look good i have to admit.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk


Before the artificial was put down they did a fair bit of ground work including puting in a land drain similar to this stuff http://www.drainagepipe.co.uk/produ...ted-land-drain-coiled/80mm-diameter/25m-coil/. Then a couple of tonnes of hardcore, and a tonne of sand.


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## rob267

Well i finally had enough.

Decide to put artificial grass down.
Removed the remaining turf and built a small wall to get the ground more level in one direction. 
Got the sand arriving next friday so will level properly then.
Then lay the grass. 
Cant wait to have a garden i can use.









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## Soul boy 68

That seems to make sense Rob laying artificial grass and its maintenance free too. :thumb:


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## tightlines

mrs t wants to do the same as our garden doesn't dry bit like yours,Ive worked out why since building a base for the arrival of a new shed, it seems that our garden has been built up as its higher then the gardens either side,When i was digging out for the shed base there is a lot of rocks and stone back fill and topped with clay so it was never going to drain, look forward to seeing the end results of your project


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## rob267

tightlines said:


> mrs t wants to do the same as our garden doesn't dry bit like yours,Ive worked out why since building a base for the arrival of a new shed, it seems that our garden has been built up as its higher then the gardens either side,When i was digging out for the shed base there is a lot of rocks and stone back fill and topped with clay so it was never going to drain, look forward to seeing the end results of your project


When i removed the turf it looked like it was originally layed on a pathetic amount of soil but mostly stones and small rubble. I previously forked the entire garden and it was hard going and it still wouldn't drain.

To be honest the grass never had a chance with the sub base being so poor.

I used countless boxes of seed in the past 2 years so cant wait to get artificial grass down now.

Will update as i go. Cheers

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## rob267

Bit of a update. 
Sand was delivered today. So i set about laying and levelling the garden the best i could.

Ordered a ton of sand but need 4 extra bags.









Put it down and compacted it and levelled it. Come out better than i thought.
















Then put down the weed control membrane.














.

All thats left to do now it wait for the artificial grass and then i will have a garden the family can use😀😀😀

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## rob267

Well its finished!!!!!!
Took me 6 hrs to lay it but was worth all the work.

Well happy with the results. Finally got a garden😀😀😀😀























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## tightlines

nice work


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## wee man

Great job, quite liked the black grass..................

Wee Man


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## rob267

wee man said:


> Great job, quite liked the black grass..................
> 
> Wee Man


Lol. I liked just the sand buddy.

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## Bulkhead

You need to address the water problem first. I had a similar problem and ended up digging trenches and running some 100mm covered drainage pipe around the outer edges, sunk into and covered with aggregate. This runs into a large drainage pit filled with aggregate. If you can run it into an existing drain that's even better. That will hopefully sort out the water issue. Then you need to choose a grass that will grow OK in shade. There are a few shade-tolerant types in the UK - https://lawnuk.com/content/choosing-right-grass-seed-shady-lawns. Then just look after it - feed and weed etc.


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## Maxtor

Great job mate, and you have just made up my mind to get it in our garden.:thumb:


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## rob267

Maxtor said:


> Great job mate, and you have just made up my mind to get it in our garden.:thumb:


Cheers buddy. Well worth the effort. Took alot of work to get the ground sorted before i layed the grass but looks great now.

Very happy with it.

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## ollienoclue

It is a common builders trick. By the time they have run an excavator around the place, disposed of whatever subsoil, rubble, mixer washings and other crap they could all over the back garden, levelled it out with an excavator and then laid turf or a scant amount of top soil down and thrown seed at it, it is no wonder sometimes lawns don't thrive especially if they are shaded as well.

Drainage was definitely the issue there and I dare say it was panned down hard long before the turf was ever laid.

I would not use artificial turf myself as it can eventually collect grime and grow moss like anything else.

Whoever suggested forking or deep aerating is on the right track. You can get some companies to use a machine which pulls out lawn cores or plugs, I forget the proper name, otherwise a garden fork or similar pushed down as deep as the tines allow will all help.


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## rob267

I did fork it loads😂 
In all seriousness i spent the last 2 years aerating the grass. We get next to no sun in the garden so it stayed wet.

When i removed the turf it seemed alot drier on the sub base. There was next to no base soil under the turf to be honest. 
I think the problem was poor preparation of the ground before the turf was laid and cheap turf and lack of sun.

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## AndyN01

Hi Rob,

Great work.

+1 for Ollie's comments. Builders ain't gardeners and any old rubble/rubbish will do to get it sort of level.

My very lovely wife is the green fingered one (you should see her when she gets angry :lol and she loves to watch the "gardening" programs. There's people who pay mega money to have the rubble removed, drainage sorted and have tons of good quality soil put back in so they can grow nice plants. 

Now you've done all that when's the red caterpillar getting snow foamed and detailed? :lol::lol:

Cheers,

Andy.


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## sdeva1

Over seed and sprinkle some top soil. Water.

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## rob267

Hi andy. 

I may have to start a new thread about the caterpillar. Think it is a single stage paint so should come up well when polished. 
May do a ceramic coating to protect.😉😉😉😉 

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## pjgraham86

Do what we did - get artificial grass - no brainer. Dogs now get wet playing in the garden but don't drag mud in with them.....and lack of sunlight ain't an issue.


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## pjgraham86

Do what we did - get artificial grass - no brainer. Dogs now get wet playing in the garden but don't drag mud in with them.....and lack of sunlight ain't an issue.


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## rob267

Thats what i did. Pics are in the thread mate.

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