Hi I'm trying to level this garden in preparation for either turf or fake grass, I haven't decided which yet but either way I need it level and firm. The garden used to be all concrete so this was all smashed up and dug up back to the clay/mud that you can see now. It's basically a large mud bath, I'm struggling to do anything with it. I have a petrol wacker plate that I tried to use on it but it just gets stuck as it's all damp ground. Any ideas where I'm going wrong? Any help appreciated
Well until it's dry you won't do a thing with it and a wacker is absolutely the worse thing to use in that state. Let it dry then hire a rotavator and run over it until you get 100 mm minimum of friable soil that you can move around with a rake, filling the low spots not trying to whack down the high ones. You may need to do that three or so times. The other alternative but v expensive and more work as isto buy intopsoil and spread then level that over a dry surface.
If you have any left over sand (make sure its washed) spread that over the top. It will help with drainage and stop the mud being so sticky.
Ok, how would drainage work? A big hole? Ramseyman - after a few mins with the wacker I realised it was not doing a thing so that was quickly put away. The ground is much like clay in some places so will a rotivator still work? Also the topsoil route would that be a case of digging the top layer down abit and then build back up with topsoil? And do both these methods work with grass or fake grass? Sospan - I actually have a full 1 ton bag of building sand on my front drive left over from the garage build ( ordered too much), was hoping I can use it somewhere in the garden
Sand works wonders on improving the drainage of soil, if you want to put real turf down make sure any salt is removed from it first If you put a whacker on it when wet all you will do is drive the water to the top surface and if you rotavate it, all you will do is bring the clay to the surface as well. Typically you would put in some land drains and take them to a piped drain or into a soak away. The trouble is you have structure too close to make a soakaway practical. Your best bet is to leave it until the ground drys and then level it with a rake. A natural lawn and some shrubs will absorb a lot of water
Ok thanks for that, also when I say 'level' would it really matter if the garden wasn't perfectly flat? Will I end up with puddles every time it rains?
level - removing the lumps and bumps. If the picture gives a good representation, you could put a slope towards the back back corner of the garage and this would let the water run away
Towards the back end is actually the highest point at the moment but that could be changed with abit of digging
Ok if you've got that amount of sand still wait for the ground to dry, spread it and rotavate it in. I still stand by my advice that until you break up the surface, albeit clay you won't be able tommove it to level it. If drainage is to work you have to ensure the water can get to the drain. Slit drains two inches wide by twelve inches deep backfilled with sand are used to drain sports fields but these have to interconnect with shingle filled piped drains to take the water away. Therefore you need to let the ground dry, spread your sand, rotavate the surface til you can move it around with a rake and then create a fall hopefully to somewhere any further surface water can go. I've just done this in a large back garden that looked similar to yours
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