Laying a grass garden on top of tiled paving stones.

[Happidy He Ho]

I want to lay some grass (as in a garden) on a tiled paving area outside my house. The area I want to turn into a garden is only small. Probably 20-30sqm.

I don’t want to damage or stain the tiled paving area that will be under the grass though.

I guess I have to put three things down:

1) Some sort of tarpaulin to separate the earth from the tiles.
2) Earth
3) Grass.

Is this correct?

If so, what type of each is best? (I want a nice grass garden with nice soft grass that you would get in the UK)

Thanks.

[cooked]

If I was in Europe I would say:

lay down impermeable sheet (plastic)

lay down geotextile. (mai mi)

On top of this about 3cm of gravel as a drainage layer

At least 10cm of good, not too heavy soil (difficult)

Buy general purpose grass seed at your local garden centre. (mai mi)

I suppose you can buy turf but 'soft' grass doesn't work here.

My honest, professional advice: buy artificial turf!

[Happidy He Ho]

Haha, thanks.

To be honest I'd rather a poor job of real grass than artificial. It's partly for helping my daughter appreciate nature and playing on a 'grass' garden.

[cooked]

Haha, thanks.

To be honest I'd rather a poor job of real grass than artificial. It's partly for helping my daughter appreciate nature and playing on a 'grass' garden.

I appreciate that, but she'll end up playing on an ant infested patch of bald earth with bits of grass growing here and there.

[jpeg]

Haha, thanks.

To be honest I'd rather a poor job of real grass than artificial. It's partly for helping my daughter appreciate nature and playing on a 'grass' garden.

Your reasons are commendable. However, the saying 'snake in the grass' springs to mind. My neighbour is continually chasing snakes off their lawn.

[Happidy He Ho]

I wouldn't worry about either of those things to be honest.

If ye can answer the OP, great.

[xen]

I would agree with Cooked post about how to do it except i would probably use a 80/20 soil/sand profile like we do on bowling greens (up to 300 mm deep) and install irrigation or water every evening. Develop a fertilizer program too .

Is it in full sun or shade will also determine your strategy and what turf you lay.

I get the impression this is only a short term thing for your daughter.

I also agree with Cooked about the synthetic grass even tho it is not what you want to hear . I have been using synthetic grass in Australia that it is difficult at a glance to tell the difference between the synthetic and real turf except the synthetic looks better and more uniform. We have been using this in childrens playground play areas especially in shaded or high traffic areas where the real turf cannot survive. This synthetic turf has a 40mm nape and it even has a brown thatch and the kids love it as it is easy to keep clean from dogshit, cat shit etc. as well as it is low maintenance once it is laid. Having said all of that I am not sure if this quality of synthetic grass is available in Thailand as i have never looked for it. Maybe able to enquire at golf courses .

Edited September 5, 2013 by xen

[Bpuumike]

Haha, thanks.

To be honest I'd rather a poor job of real grass than artificial. It's partly for helping my daughter appreciate nature and playing on a 'grass' garden.

I appreciate that, but she'll end up playing on an ant infested patch of bald earth with bits of grass growing here and there.

Tiling is cheap.

Get rid of it, plant the grass properly and re-tile in later years.

Or you might be tempted to grow some fruit trees or flowering plants.

[cooked]

... however most tiles have 6 inches of reinforced concrete underneath them.

[IsaanAussie]

Build up a raised bed using cement blocks and render them. That will give you about a 10" depth for lawn and some flowers. Don't mortar the blocks to the tiles but do a job on the joints between the blocks. That will give you some drainage (seepage) for the lawn. Then build up your soil mix laying some irrigation tubing and a few pop-up sprinklers and lay turf. Leave a snap on hose connector exposed so you just need to run a garden hose to water.

I think you will be lucky if the tiles don't stain, but if the house/apartment is rented I doubt anyone will care.

[smccolley]

Haha, thanks.

To be honest I'd rather a poor job of real grass than artificial. It's partly for helping my daughter appreciate nature and playing on a 'grass' garden.

I appreciate that, but she'll end up playing on an ant infested patch of bald earth with bits of grass growing here and there.

Tiling is cheap.

Get rid of it, plant the grass properly and re-tile in later years.

Or you might be tempted to grow some fruit trees or flowering plants.

I agree - you can get a worker in to remove the tile and anything under it for a pittance, and put it back better than new when you are done. The issue will be that unless you have a deep bed the grass will burn in the sun and in a deep bed the tile will be stained beyond recognition.

[jpeg]

And there'll be lotsa snakes. Believe me You're not in Basingstoke <deleted>.

Edited September 6, 2013 by jpeg

[RedBullHorn]

I would agree with Cooked post about how to do it except i would probably use a 80/20 soil/sand profile like we do on bowling greens (up to 300 mm deep) and install irrigation or water every evening. Develop a fertilizer program too .

Is it in full sun or shade will also determine your strategy and what turf you lay.

I get the impression this is only a short term thing for your daughter.

I also agree with Cooked about the synthetic grass even tho it is not what you want to hear . I have been using synthetic grass in Australia that it is difficult at a glance to tell the difference between the synthetic and real turf except the synthetic looks better and more uniform. We have been using this in childrens playground play areas especially in shaded or high traffic areas where the real turf cannot survive. This synthetic turf has a 40mm nape and it even has a brown thatch and the kids love it as it is easy to keep clean from dogshit, cat shit etc. as well as it is low maintenance once it is laid. Having said all of that I am not sure if this quality of synthetic grass is available in Thailand as i have never looked for it. Maybe able to enquire at golf courses .

Home Pro and Big C have them... and they're not cheap. Home Pro have 30cm x 30cm, come in 2 shade of colour and pattern, look really natural. Cost = ฿1'200 per piece !!!

Big C got theirs from China, colour is artificial luminous green~ Cheaper too.

Edited September 7, 2013 by RedBullHorn

[JungleBiker]

lay down impermeable sheet (plastic)

lay down geotextile. (mai mi)

On top of this about 3cm of gravel as a drainage layer

At least 10cm of good, not too heavy soil (difficult)

Buy general purpose grass seed at your local garden centre. (mai mi)

Geotextile is available in Thailand. I bought some earlier this year (call 0898141166 - they sell wholesale quantities but they can connect you to sellers of smaller quantities).

I guess your idea is to use the geotextile to protect the plastic sheet from being punctured by the gravel but would it not be a good idea to also put another layer on top of the gravel to stop the soil being washed into the gravel?

Heavy soil could be made lighter by adding sand.

"Yaa Nuan Noi" turf is readily available and although it may not be as soft as UK grass I reckon it is still okay for playing on. For a good variety of nuan noi grass turf contact Gary via http://www.globalturfconsult.com/ In fact he may be able to help the OP with the whole project or recommend someone who can. He's based near BKK.

JB