Field to Lawn - How to get there.

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BBH

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I have a four acre field and no longer want horses in it so would like to get the land to lawn for my dogs to have a play space.

Does anyone know the best way of going about this and how long it would take to get it from rough paddock land to soft grass if at all.

Many thanks.
 
Top it, roll it, harrow it and then get some sheep on it for a month or two. Then when they move on, start mowing it and you'll have a lovely lawn!
 
A lawn means lots of short, dense grass stalks. The only way to get this is to keep the grass trimmed so that it thickens up from the base. You have two choices: spend a fortune on diesel to have it cut every few weeks or have it grazed. Sheep are best because they graze it close to the ground and their feet don't create great big marks. It should be rolled and harrowed in early spring to level it out. With the right treatment it will look good by summer.
 
A foreign tourist asked one of the beefeaters at the Tower of London how they got their lawns looking so good.

He replied, "All you need is a decent seed bed and some grass seed. Then cut it and roll it for 600 years".

Many a true word spoken in jest!:D
 
Thankyou everyone.

I guess I don't want a bowling green but it could come better than paddock land with some TLC :D
 
You won't need sheep, although they do make fields nice! Just roll and harrow it as soon as the land is dry, then top it when it needs it. The land will eventually turn into a good dog field! We have one next door, and nothing goes in it, it is cut for hay once a year and just left inbetween.
 
Billie1007 said:
BBH, you are living my dream with four acres and you want... To ... Put it to lawn... For dogs.... To play on it? *swoon*

Some people. :rolleyes:;)
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HaHa yes I've gotton jaded with horses, I think the wet weather and mud that seems to dominate this country now has spoilt my enjoyment with horses. I enjoy my dogs more so have been working hard and am down to a little Sec A who lives in the big field with his friends so I can use this one as a play space.

Besides horses trash the land.
 
my friend kept her ponies next to a cricket pitch,of course the grass was always greener.she asked the groundsman how he kept it so nice and he said just regular mowing.
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
If its a field it will be classed as agricultural unless it is part of your garden. That's not the same as an agricultural tie for the house.
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When I put in my planning app it was easy as its not classed as agricultural land. I bought the land from the Highways Agency and my planning consultants thought they must have revoked any classification for the use they had for it, so the yard I built went straight through. The only question the planners had was that they used the BHS guidelines vis a vis horses per acreage. I wanted more stables than the land supported so we just said two of them were for storage.
 
Dee O'Dorant said:
Aha - there you have the answer, break the Section A to drive and use it to pull a mower and a harrow:D
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Ha Ha I have wondered about this but I don't know anyone locally who would teach him to drive, I think he'd look cute with a little cart behind him or even mower / harrow etc but I'm not sure he'd agree. He is a pet and lives the life of riley.
 
BBH said:
When I put in my planning app it was easy as its not classed as agricultural land. I bought the land from the Highways Agency and my planning consultants thought they must have revoked any classification for the use they had for it, so the yard I built went straight through. The only question the planners had was that they used the BHS guidelines vis a vis horses per acreage. I wanted more stables than the land supported so we just said two of them were for storage.
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Ahhh I see, that was handy!! Will help too with the lawn, they shouldn't give you bother like they might with a normal field!!!
 
Our front lawn was field , roll it and then mow it ( you will need a sit on ) dont cut to short at first then just mow and mow and mow won't take long before its a great strong lawn for the dogs.
You don't need sheep .
 
My neighbour has turned part of their field into lawn. It isn't agric restricted but the council weren't impressed with the change to lawn but mainly because it was fenced off.
It now looks like lawn rather than field after only two years. He mows it almost every week and rolls it and spikes it and has another machine he uses but we're not sure what it is. It does look amazing and probably is more pampered than most but he said that regular mowing has really improved it.
 
Get a specialist grassland contractor in.
Get soil tested and evalutae what needs to be added.
Use total kill to kill everything off.
Install new drainbage and any water pipes etc.
Treat land for defficiencies.
Cultivate ground.
Drill with specialist seed.
Roll
Wait for grass to grow.
Cut and collect grass at least every 4 weeks in growing season.
 
OWLIE185 said:
Get a specialist grassland contractor in.
Get soil tested and evalutae what needs to be added.
Use total kill to kill everything off.
Install new drainbage and any water pipes etc.
Treat land for defficiencies.
Cultivate ground.
Drill with specialist seed.
Roll
Wait for grass to grow.
Cut and collect grass at least every 4 weeks in growing season.
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Oh wow looks like i'll be busy. It has some river bank and a natural pond so a bit low lying and have already had some major drainage works done to help with the ' wet' bits.
 
It's honestly quite easy , I think a sit on mower with a mulching deck will be best, it did not take mine long at all before it was very lawn like by the end of the first summer I cut mine weekly gradually lowering the deck over time.
 
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