Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Dec 06, 2012 5:28 am Hey guys We are a long way off laying turf, but its never too early to plan right I have slightly special needs for my lawn. In effect what I am looking to build is a horse riding arena that looks green. Ordinarily a riding arena would be a cut area, compacted road base, with various kinds of sand or rubber mixture on top. I have a big enough space to squeeze in an arena but it is effectively my front yard so I would like the area to look green rather than be a big expanse of sand. However, grass itself is a very poor option for riding - too boggy when wet and can be very slippery (horses can and do fall over) and end up with dead patches / divets. No doubt it is a compromise - it won't be as good to ride on as a dedicated properly constructed arena and won't look as nice as a dedicated proper lawn, but its the best I can do with the space to try and make it dual purpose. I'm wondering if I can get away with cutting the site, skipping a hard base and introducing sand into our non-sandy top soil to get a surface for riding that is free draining and sandy but also capable of keeping some grass cover so that it generally looks green. Is this achievable, or am I crazy? I know nothing about soil prep and turf. I have browsed Fu's guides - but it seems I am doing the opposite to ideal here by introducing sand. How would I introduce sand into the soil (and how much is too much) and what kind of tough turf will grow in a cold climate sandy soil? The area is too large for us (financially) to lay turf in rolls so it would need to be something we could grow from seed. Tender /1/12 Contract 14/6/12 Planning 12/10/12 Site 23/10/12 Piers 27/11/12 Slab 12/12/12 Frame 15/12/12 Trusses 17/1/13 Roof 24/1/13 Bricks 13/2/13 Plaster 1/3/13 Depends how much direct sun it gets. Is there any shading (eaves or trees)? If the sun hits a window directly it doesn't matter too much if it's double or single… 1 12664 Hi guys, I want to butt a concrete vegetable garden bed against a concrete build up of a carport. It will be a 700mm high wall about 120mm thick and I will run a 12mm rio… 0 2603 They using concrete or timber sleepers? Timber or steel uprights? Any drainage behind sleeper? 3 5876 |