Raising level of lawn
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Raising level of lawn John S G 08-20-2007
Posted by John S G on August 20, 2007, 8:24 am
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I have three small lawns, each of which is below the level of the
adjacent paths. They are inherited from the previous owner of the
house and have not sunk in recent years. I want to raise the levels.

I have read that a new lawn requires to be laid on four inches of
topsoil. Can I put four inches of topsoil on top of the existing
lawns and then sow seed or put on readymade rolls? Or do I have to
dig up the existing grass?

I don't want to re-use the sods of the existing grass as there are a
lot of weeds (creeping buttercup, dandelions, clover, daisies,
speedwell (Veronica L.) and one that looks like pale green miniature spinach).

John




--
John S G

Posted by on August 20, 2007, 3:06 pm
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 John S G wrote:
> I have three small lawns, each of which is below the level of the
> adjacent paths. They are inherited from the previous owner of the
> house and have not sunk in recent years. I want to raise the levels.
>
> I have read that a new lawn requires to be laid on four inches of
> topsoil. Can I put four inches of topsoil on top of the existing
> lawns and then sow seed or put on readymade rolls? Or do I have to
> dig up the existing grass?
>
> I don't want to re-use the sods of the existing grass as there are a
> lot of weeds (creeping buttercup, dandelions, clover, daisies,
> speedwell (Veronica L.) and one that looks like pale green miniature spinach).
>
> John
>



Yes. Just put the soil on the old sod and replant/resod. If you want to,
you can put some roundup on the old sod and wait a couple of days to put
down the new topsoil. No need to do anything with the old soil as long
as you are adding 4" of topsoil to the entire yards.

Posted by Steve on August 20, 2007, 4:40 pm
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John S G <NOSPAMgoodwillATindigoDOTie> wrote on 20 Aug 2007 in group
alt.home.lawn.garden:

>
> I have three small lawns, each of which is below the level of the
> adjacent paths. They are inherited from the previous owner of the
> house and have not sunk in recent years. I want to raise the levels.
>
> I have read that a new lawn requires to be laid on four inches of
> topsoil. Can I put four inches of topsoil on top of the existing
> lawns and then sow seed or put on readymade rolls? Or do I have to
> dig up the existing grass?
>
> I don't want to re-use the sods of the existing grass as there are a
> lot of weeds (creeping buttercup, dandelions, clover, daisies,
> speedwell and one that looks like pale green miniature spinach).

Be aware that adding soil on top of tree roots will likely kill the
tree.

If you want, you can apply a short-lived vegetation killer to the
existing sod to kill everything that's there. Be sure not to get the
stuff that says it lasts a year.

4" of soil cover will kill most grass and weeds, but some will come
through. You don't say, but if you're changing species of grass, you
probably don't want the stuff underneath to reappear in a few weeks. You
definitely don't want the weeds to show up again.

--
Steve B.
New Life Home Improvement

Posted by z on August 21, 2007, 12:31 pm
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> John S G <NOSPAMgoodwillATindigoDOTie> wrote on 20 Aug 2007 in group
> alt.home.lawn.garden:
>
>
>
> > I have three small lawns, each of which is below the level of the
> > adjacent paths. They are inherited from the previous owner of the
> > house and have not sunk in recent years. I want to raise the levels.
>
> > I have read that a new lawn requires to be laid on four inches of
> > topsoil. Can I put four inches of topsoil on top of the existing
> > lawns and then sow seed or put on readymade rolls? Or do I have to
> > dig up the existing grass?
>
> > I don't want to re-use the sods of the existing grass as there are a
> > lot of weeds (creeping buttercup, dandelions, clover, daisies,
> > speedwell and one that looks like pale green miniature spinach).
>
> Be aware that adding soil on top of tree roots will likely kill the
> tree.
>
> If you want, you can apply a short-lived vegetation killer to the
> existing sod to kill everything that's there. Be sure not to get the
> stuff that says it lasts a year.
>
> 4" of soil cover will kill most grass and weeds, but some will come
> through. You don't say, but if you're changing species of grass, you
> probably don't want the stuff underneath to reappear in a few weeks. You
> definitely don't want the weeds to show up again.
>
> --
> Steve B.
> New Life Home Improvement

You could try the "cover the old sod with newspaper and let it rot"
trick under the new dirt.


Posted by Steve on August 21, 2007, 5:01 pm
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alt.home.lawn.garden:

>> John S G <NOSPAMgoodwillATindigoDOTie> wrote on 20 Aug 2007 in group
>> alt.home.lawn.garden:
>>
>> > I have three small lawns, each of which is below the level of the
>> > adjacent paths. They are inherited from the previous owner of the
>> > house and have not sunk in recent years. I want to raise the
>> > levels.
>>
>> > I have read that a new lawn requires to be laid on four inches of
>> > topsoil. Can I put four inches of topsoil on top of the existing
>> > lawns and then sow seed or put on readymade rolls? Or do I have
>> > to dig up the existing grass?
>>
>> > I don't want to re-use the sods of the existing grass as there are
>> > a lot of weeds (creeping buttercup, dandelions, clover, daisies,
>> > speedwell and one that looks like pale green miniature spinach).
>>
>> If you want, you can apply a short-lived vegetation killer to the
>> existing sod to kill everything that's there. Be sure not to get the
>> stuff that says it lasts a year.
>>
>> 4" of soil cover will kill most grass and weeds, but some will come
>> through. You don't say, but if you're changing species of grass, you
>> probably don't want the stuff underneath to reappear in a few weeks.
>> You definitely don't want the weeds to show up again.
>
> You could try the "cover the old sod with newspaper and let it rot"
> trick under the new dirt.

I didn't have much luck with that, so I probably did it wrong. I put
down a layer five or six sheets thick, overlapping the seams, then
covered it with mulch. The bermuda grass came back through. Does it need
to be a thicker layer? How thick? Did I miss something?

What do you recommend?

--
Steve B.
New Life Home Improvement

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