# Can i grow a lawn with gravel and mulch underneath 8" of soil?



## Edaok (Jul 1, 2019)

I recently moved into a new house and the previous owner had a large rock pond that was about 2 1/2 feet deep and 9 feet in diameter in the front yard. When i moved into the house the pond was empty and i wanted a lawn so i have been removing all the larger(1"-2" river rock) and giving it away on craigslist. Once i got the majority of the larger rocks away I found that there was a 2" layer of what i believe is mulch with a four inch layer of gravel under the mulch and a pond liner under the gravel. I really want this pond gone which brings me to my main point. If i get rid of the large rocks and the pond liner, could i fill the hole in with the mulch and smaller gravel, and add a 8" layer of dirt on top of that to grow my lawn? If not i really am unsure what to do with all of it.

Here are some pictures of the rocks and mulch that i would like to use to fill in the bottom layer of the pond.


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## ThomasPI (May 18, 2019)

IMHO no, remove all of it.


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## Jconnelly6b (Mar 4, 2018)

There's a good chance you can grow turf on top of it just fine if you have 8" of soil.

There's also a good chance that whatever turf is growing on top of that buried rock pile will always look different that the rest of your yards because of the different substrate. May be more/less prone to drought, nutrient leaching, fungus, etc.


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## PNW_George (May 28, 2018)

If you were to research how professional sports fields are built you will find designs that purposefully build a lower layer of gravel with drainage underneath layers of mulch and sandy loam. It could be that you have an ideal base for an ideal lawn. You may want a bit more than 8 inches but deep roots will still work down into the gravel if it is relatively small, angular gravel. If I could start over, I would have put in a base gravel layer of 6 inches or more covered with 12 inches or so of sandy loam.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I think the liner will be a problem long term. I am assuming it is impermeable and will not let water flow. You still need to let the water escape somehow.


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