How to Lay a Lawn on Concrete

Updated/Fact-Chacked on July 29, 2021 by John

Concrete is generally the easiest, smoothest, and most trouble-free way to go when deciding on a look for your patio, front yard, or even your backyard. Nevertheless, after some time, you find yourself wanting to change things a bit.

Fortunately, learning how to lay a lawn on concrete is incredibly easy, and you don’t need a lot of equipment to get the job done. Throughout this article, we’ll introduce you to the five steps of laying a lawn on concrete and changing your house’s aesthetic.

1. Flatten the Surface

Firstly, you can use either cement or any self-levelling compound to flatten your concrete floor. This means that you won’t have water puddles forming in one specific place, and it’ll give a uniform look to your front or backyard.
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2. Clean the Concrete

The next step you need to do is to clean your concrete surface thoroughly. Many people prefer to go with power washing, which is the fastest and most efficient solution to clear the space. You need to remove anything that could disrupt the plants’ ecosystem, such as pesticides and de-icing salt.

3. Create a Drainage System

You can create a drainage system by elevating the entire yard one or 2 inches above the average level, along with creating a gradient for the water to slide back into your already established drainage system.

Adding topsoil also helps with that, and we’ll speak about that in the next point. One last thing you can do to aid with water drainage is adding coarse sand to fill any gaps and absorb unwanted water.

4. Add Topsoil 

You can choose to go with either high-quality topsoil or sod, according to your needs and financial capabilities in relation to the space that you want covered. Either way, they’ll both act as the final addition to your small ecosystem.

You’ll need around 2 inches of either material as overtime, and with frequent trodding, the soil/sod compresses. Consequently, you don’t want to go below 1 inch to avoid returning to the concrete.

5. Choose the Seeds

Always keep in mind that any lawn is there to be walked on. So, when choosing the proper seeds for your concrete lawn, you have to go with durable and low-maintenance plants. 

Also, remember that you have around 1 to 2 inches of soil, meaning that you need short-rooted plants to easily access all the water and nutrients that they could possibly need. 

Once you’ve chosen your seeds, make sure that the soil is moist enough to accept them and have them germinate freely. Don’t forget to aerate and fertilize your soil at proper times, according to the weather and the soil’s needs.

Final Thoughts

A lot of people think that one needs a 100% soil-based garden to have an appealing lawn. However, that’s far from the truth – lawns are incredibly versatile and adaptable.

Throughout this article, we’ve seen how simple the process of learning how to lay a lawn on concrete is. You only need some seeds, the proper tools, a little bit of patience, and voila! Your lawn is good to go.

Mary

Mary shares a passion for gardening with her husband John, though she is more focused on growing veg on their allotment at St. Margaret’s Allotments, Durham. Mary also works in the lawn care industry and manages the lawns for the Durham University campus.