Garden lawn in new home

Lots of recent built houses are said to have lots of rubble under a thin layer of top soil so you are probably right about this. It's impossible to say without actually looking at your garden and knowing what you expect from it to offer any definitive advice. We get lots of rain in Ireland so even more natural soils can often be soggy and then the grass not be very resilient in the wet weather. In our climate most land would naturally turn into deciduous forest with trees like oak and ash dominating the area and their deep roots and the frequent dropping of leaves giving a fertile soil and productive ecosystem. There is a widespread fear in this country to having large trees close to houses and grass is relatively easy to maintain with regular mowing. I would find lawn to be one of the more boring things to do with an area of garden but if that is what you want in your garden I think you should speak with some of your neighbors and find out what their experience with their garden has been. In an estate of houses they will often have fairly similar garden soil so their advice would be much more relevant than anything I can say. Rubble can often be free draining and as mentioned lots of soils here can get a bit soggy when we get heavy rains. Digging up your lawn and replacing it is most likely to lead to no change in my opinion. The main advice with lawn maintenance I would offer is to simply stay off it when the ground is soggy from heavy rain as this is when it can be compacted and become more damaged. Some might use a garden fork to open up holes and even add some sand to these if you are talking about wanting to become a sports green type of lawn enthusiast but some sites might even need drainage pipes installed to become really high standard growing areas. Many sports stadium green keepers go to the effort of wheeling out grow lights onto the pitch to improve their grass but not seen that done by anyone in their household lawn area. Some carefully sited deep rooting shrubs and small trees might be enough to improve the soil structure over time. It depends as I said on how bad it is and how much you are looking for the perfect lawn. Lots of very relevant information missing from your post.

sheriff2 wrote: »

Hi;

Bought a new house last year, the soil always seems to be soggy & the grass pulls up quite easily.
I'd presume the base of the garden lawn consists of builders rubble etc.

Would you suggest digging this up and replacing, or could it be treated to make it healthier

If you can post a pic it might help people provide advice I'd say

It's not a great time of year to be evaluating a lawn, most will be pretty poor and soggy, and yours is only a year old which is never going to help. The one landscaper who suggested feeding (and i would also suggest over sowing with a tougher seed) sounds like the only one who's not trying to make money out of you. That would be the best course of action this spring, it needs at least another growing season before i'd take more drastic action.

If it supports nettles, the soil must be reasonably good.
Seed the bare patches and be patient.

^ Are you going to overseed or just prepare the soil?
If you dont overseed you will just end up with nice new soil full of nice new weeds

Hoping to do the same as yourself. Going to give it a go and see what happens! Currently taking out the large stones and rubble left from the building phase.
Can I ask what is overseeding?
Also, I plan on hiring a rotavator on rotavating the ground myself. The area is 240m². A lot to take on?
Thanks in advance.
Liam