[horizonuser]

So, I finally got my garden installed with a drainage system and fixed up by professionals. However, I am a little conerned with how they left it. Basically, they graded off the original topsoil, dug trenches back to a soak pit and brought in around 140 tonnes of topsoil (big garden). Over the last few days, with the rain, its clear to see the drainage is working,.

My question is this: The top soil seems to be high on the garden. Walking on it produces foot prints of about 1-1.5 inches. Should this have been rolled, or is this the normal way to leave it? Its only down a week and the grass is sprouting already,

thanks

[Michael196]

I would not be concerned about softness causing footprints, the last thing you want with a new lawn is compaction, causing waterlogging and no lawn (seed) growth. Over the autumn and winter the ground will naurally compact up.

You should avoid walking on it if it has now been seeded.

IF the grass is sprouting then everything should be fine.

If the lawn is level and there are no stones on the surface, then a proper job has been done.

[horizonuser]

[walltoall]

Whatever you do Horizon user do nothing

[verge]

How to deal with the small stones on the surface is dealt with here horizonuser New Lawn . Look under the heading Initial new lawn care

[sandra12]

[walltoall]

I bet you are from outside Ireland? "Whatever you do, do nothing" is so well known in Ireland, I never expected to have to explain it on an Irish Gardening site.

But here goes.

My advice to the original poster is to leave that nice new lawn entirely alone. It'll be grand. Don't go walking across it. Don't roll it. Don't go picking stones. Don't do anything. Just stand beside it and listen for the sound of the grass growing. (That's another Irish saying). Comne the Spring it'll be all settled and the ground will have settled naturally. Come easter and a bit of drying and the first mowing can be chanced. Sometimes one can overdo the attention in a garden and often, the very best way to solve a gardening 'problem' is "whatever you do, do nothing".

Go n-eíri an t-adh leatsa gach lá go deo.

[horizonuser]

Should this have settled a little bit by now? Nearly 4 weeks since the topsoil was put down and I if I attempt to walk on it I impress about 2 inches into the soil. Will this settle over time? Should I really leave this until Spring for the first cut as another poster says?

[walltoall]

Leave the lawn til Spring. Don't walk on it. Don't even go near it. Nature sometimes likes to be left alone. Whatever you do, do nothing. The lawn will be grand. In the Spring when it is obvious that things are growing, roll it if you must.

Then if you want to lift weeds and stones use a sheet of plywood or even a large cardboard box (flattened!) to launch yourself into the unknown. Let the grass establish itself so you cannot see any 'soil', before even thinking of cutting it.

The best first cut is with a motor-mower set at the highest setting and with the grass as dry as a bone. This is not likely to happen in Ireland til at least mid April. It is important to use a grass-box with the motor mower so no cut grass is left behind.

Then use the motor mower every week or so, going down a notch a time on the height setting and always using the grass box. [By the way, this grass is a grand mulch for ericacious shrubs] By mid-June you should be within an inch or so of the soil surface and the grass should be thick and soft underfoot.

If the grass grows thin across the Winter and weeds are inclined to establish from March on, use a selective weed-killer in a tiny spray bottle and use that ply/cardboard sheet. If you are a purist with an aversion to chemical so am I. Use a sharp knife to cut the weed's tap-root. Nice lawn is a patient game

[inishindie]

If you haven't had the soil trodden down before the seed was sown then Walltoall is speaking words of wisdom- Let it Be.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcZ8Gz0rDtw&feature=related

[Michael196]

Hi horizon user.

4 weeks is no time in terms of a lawn. You will be looking at 4 years for the lawn to begin to mature. But dont worry it will begin to look good after about a year.

Small stones on the surface will be picked up by the lawnmower or will disspear back into the soil. so so dont worry about them .

If you leave it completly alone now, and u get growth by april next year, thenj maybe a lawnfeed / weedkiller might be ok, but only if u have robust growth.