Happiness is a New Back Lawn

We got three people to quote for the lawn.

Quote 1) Man was very nice but it did seem very finger-in-the-air estimating the amount of soil we would need, working on the principle that as little as possible was good. We did sort of agree on the area of grass needed, but he didn't measure anything so that was more that he took our estimate as his.
Quote 2) Border Aggregates. Much more impressed. Man measured the area with one of those wheel-on-a-stick measuring things - area about what we had estimated. Agreed that it would be advisable to break the ground up a bit first, and even went as far as discussing levels to determine the amount of topsoil needed and the best approach to laying the turf itself.
Quote 3) Man measured the area with a tape. Came up with a much lower area than us. Didn't seem to think the ground needed any preparation - would be a good hard base. Wrote me a quote on the back of an envelope as he had forgotten his pad. I wasn't sure if this included labour and on trying to get clarification was none the wiser.

Quote from Border Aggregates arrived in the post a few days later. I was pleasantly surprised. Quote from man 1 arrived a few days later. It was less but was also for a much lower quantity of topsoil. If we upped that to match Border Aggregates the quotes were about the same. So, Border Aggregates won the business hands down.

So on Tuesday we got a phone call to say they would be coming in the afternoon. This was really to drop off the mini digger and just ascertain exactly what was to be done (different two men from the one who had originally come to do the estimate). They would be back first thing the following day to start work. We ascertained that allowing for the drive in from Kelso this would be 7.30 a.m.






Now it needs to be watered every day for the next 3 to 4 weeks, and given a feed after a couple of weeks. Minimal walking on for a month so the dogs are going to have to wait before testing it out as a race track...

The New Lawn Saga - Part 1

This is a precis.

Now that my planters, veggie patch and fruit tree bed to be are up and running I had told Paul that I really wanted the lawn to be done this year.

"What do I need to do?"

"Ask Karen*. But for a start you need to get rid of the weeds".

So Paul's first task involved getting me to make up the weed killer and then getting Penny to apply it...

Time goes by...

"Now what?"

"Ask Karen. But you need to remove all the rubbish and large/loose stones".

So an hour or two of clearing up.

"Can you order some topsoil for Wednesday?".

"You order it. We are not ready for topsoil. There are still loads of stones to clear".

Yesterday there was no sign of activity so I came inside to find him.

"I thought I had finished. I wasn't worried about the small ones..."

"We are going to be spending a lot of money on topsoil and turf. I don't want to then find that it all dies and we have to start again. I will help you".

So after lunch we both went out. It was hot and after an hour or so Paul was obviously losing all interest.

"Do we really need to get all these stones out? They are going to be under about four inches of topsoil".

"Ask Karen".

We had seen her drive past a little earlier so hopefully she was in. So off he went. She was waiting for her builder to come so said she would pop along later.

And so she did.

So her judgement is that we will need to hire a rotovator and remove all the big stones. I felt a lot happier, Paul didn't.

So this morning Paul has been on the phone and we have three people coming to quote for doing it all for us...

* Karen is a neighbour who laid a new lawn last year. She also gave up her job a couple of years ago to retrain in horticulture.