Rotovate Compacted ground

Bit of advice sought please !

Just added new extension to rear of house . Stripped the existing lawn and now ready to prepare for new.

However , as the garden has been a building site for 6 months , the ground is very compacted. Hired a rotovator and gave it a test run yesterday but just bounced off the ground .

Am I best giving the ground a light soaking first or do I need to break the surface using a fork ?

Also any tips on best fertiliser to use for the new lawn .

Thanks for any help !

Pete

 

You need a big cultivator ( one with seperate wheels) as oposed to a machine driven through the tines ask for a camon C8 (HSS hire do them).

Soaking it will certainly help, if its really compacted then a pickaxe will be easier than a fork.

 

Thanks for the reply .

Gave the ground a light soaking and broke up ground using fork ( didn't have pickaxe !).

Did the trick and turned over well in the end .

Cheers ,

Pete