Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Feb 23, 2022 10:31 am Hi, The side of my house has a long strip with a kind of clay soil base with gravel scattered in it. It has a pH of 7.5. I'm looking to plant grass and possibly small trees/bushes on it, but need advice on how best to approach it. I'm a complete amateur on planting grass, but I would like to attempt it myself. I've added photos to show what it looks like. One thing that concerns me is that if I dig a short distance down, there some kind of layer of fabric material. What could this be for? There are pipes in the area, and although I think I know where they are I would have to be extremely cautious about digging down very far. The approach I was considering was to filter out the larger rocks, add a layer of soil, churn it up to mix it with the clay, then plant a type of grass that is high pH tolerant and low sun tolerant. We have Buffalo elsewhere on the property, but I'm concerned this area does not get enough sun for buffalo. Can anyone advise on whether this is a terrible idea or not? Also, on a slight tangent, I've had some problems with the council because the previous owners did not install as much soft-landscaping as they were supposed to in an old DA. I know gravel does not count as soft landscaped, but this area has a loose/sparse gravel layer with clay soil. Weeds grow on it, and I believe some kinds of trees grew on it in the past. Anyone have any knowledge as to whether this counts as soft-landscaping or not? Clearly if I successfully grew grass it would, but there are some areas I'm leaving as is. Thanks for reading. Top layer: Top layerLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Under the surface (currently wet from the rains): Under the surfaceLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Odd layer of fabric material a short distance down: Fabric material a short distance downLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Consistency - it is damp but falls apart easily: ConsistencyLike ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ Re: Advice for grass in clay soil 2Feb 23, 2022 3:15 pm I'd say that what you hit is a slotted drain with a filter sock. https://www.bunnings.com.au/vinidex-65m ... lsrc=aw.ds As for clay soil, I'm in the same situation where I'm looking at doing a lawn at my new property. Best bet is to dig out the clay soil replace it with sandy loam, 10cm for a lawn, probably more for other plants, that's what I'm doing and it's not that expensive if its a small area. If you don't want to do that you can till up the soil and add gypsum and some organic material, that will help break up the clay so that roots can take hold. But looking at how rocky that area is I'd be tempted to just replace the whole lot with new sandy loam. Re: Advice for grass in clay soil 3Feb 23, 2022 4:25 pm The weird thing with the fabric is seems to be everywhere I dig. This is across an area about 2m x 12m. They seem to have covered the whole area in this fabric then dumped clay and rocks on top of it. EDIT: Perhaps is 'Landscape Fabric' that seems to be intended to stop weeds, but has generally negative comments associated with it when I google it. Re: Advice for grass in clay soil 4Feb 26, 2022 9:39 am ![]() The weird thing with the fabric is seems to be everywhere I dig. This is across an area about 2m x 12m. They seem to have covered the whole area in this fabric then dumped clay and rocks on top of it. EDIT: Perhaps is 'Landscape Fabric' that seems to be intended to stop weeds, but has generally negative comments associated with it when I google it. Well that might make it easier to remove the crappy soil on top of the fabric. Might be worth cutting a small section and checking the soil quality below the fabric. I've dug some footings to embed a post anchor into. My holes are around 450mm deep which I'll put a 200mm stirrup into. The bottom of these holes seem firm enough. … 0 3894 DIY, Home Maintenance & Repair Please help me to answer this question , it will help me a lot as i can go to buy confidently with your recommendation: I want to put synthetic turf in our backyard for… 0 6316 Help!! Iām meant to start building soon and have only really just learnt about orientation. Im reading so much that no grass will grow on the heavily shaded south… 0 3144 |