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Gardening in the UK

Turning turf into loam

21 years ago

hi everyone, I'm new to the forum. It's nice to 'meet' you. I was wondering if anyone had experience of stacking turf to turn into loam?

12 months ago I dug up quite a lot of my lawn, stacked the the turfs top to top and bottom to bottom in alternate layers in a 'box' i made with 4 pallets for walls, which I covered with black plastic to keep it dark.

I started dismantling it today in the hopes of finding the grass rotted away and nice loam to use to fill a new large raised bed I have that needs a generous layer of top soil. The results have been fairly encouraging - full of worms, damp, a little compacted (not surprisingly). Here, finally, is the question. The grass has not vanished/rotted away and in some parts of the pile (not all) small, fine roots of the grass are still visible. My worry is that if I spread this over the bed and work it in etc I will find that the roots were only dormant and suddenly have a lawn where I want a flower bed. Do you think it's safe to ignore the roots and get on with it, or not worth the risk? I'd be grateful for any advice especially from anyone who has done this themselves. (My soil is medium heavy clay, should that be relevant.) thanks.

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Comments (4)

shrubs_n_bulbs
21 years ago
Are you sure its roots, and not fungi that have digested the dead roots? Any sign of live grass? The fungi will be root-like threads in the soil but they will have no strength. Of course they might actually be roots. You can always take a pot of the suspect soil and see what grows. No grass in a few weeks likely means no grass ever. A year is about the minimum time to rot down a turf stack, it can take a lot longer. Surprisingly, it helps to keep the whole thing constantly wet. It might have been a bit dry under plastic.
alcina
21 years ago
Last summer I turned my turf to turn the lawn into a bed. I turned it over, covered with cardboard, covered that with horse manure and covered that (for aesthetics!) with cocoa mulch - watering thoroughly in between the layers. Other than grass seeds sprouting in the horse manure, none of my original grass has returned. However, when I dig holes to try to plant things I am aware that I am digging through thick, matted grass roots still. They seem dead and have not sprouted, but they are still there. I just treat it as long term "organic matter" which will eventually break down. In the meantime I just break up the clumps I dig into smaller chunks...well I have to otherwise it's like trying to bed a plant in with a piece of turf! :) Lots of worms and the soil appears to be healthy and pretty friable when I can separate it from the roots. I naturally have clay soil.

Alcina
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weatherlawyer
21 years ago
I think the trick to it is in keeping the grass covered to stop light growing it. The turf will turn to loam in several years. If there is couch grass in it, that will grow again.

If you had had the time and ability you might have got some subsoil to sandwich and cover it.
landgirl
Original Author
21 years ago
thank you everyone for your kind advice. Shrubs n bulbs, it's definitely roots not fungi, thank goodness.

I've moreorless decided to dismantle the pile, chuck the outer stuff and reconstruct a much smaller version with the semi-rotted stuff from the middle/bottom, but this time in a better more out of the way place than I was able to use with the bigger pile.

Now I have a nice big border to fill from scratch!

thanks again.

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