Laying my First Lawn

Hi All

I'm laying my first lawn over Easter (weather permitting).

The garden has been a building site for the past year. I have taken the level of the garden down by a few inches of soil and disposed of it. All the weeds are gone so at the moment I'm just left with soil.

The soil/mud is compacted.

Do I need to dig down a bit and turn over the soil to aerate it?
Do I tred down the aerated soil so that its firm?
If the above is ok I will then lay 3" quality top soil
Do I have to tred down the top soil so that its firm and level?

Then will I be ready to lay my turf.

Shall I also add sand at any point?

Many Thanks in advance.

 

Can you aerate then roller it? You don't need to add sand if its well aerated.

 

I don't have a roller

 

Yes it would be a good idea to turn the ground over before putting on a layer of fresh topsoil. Don't worry about a roller Skymagic, just get the family out, form an orderly line and walk ahead, taking very small steps and stamping slightly. It looks funny but is really effective in levelling the soil. I wouldn't worry about sand but you can get a pre-turfing fertiliser (sold alongside grass seed) that you sprinkle before laying the turf.

Make sure the edges of the turf are butted tightly, try not to tread on the newly layed turf (put down planks to walk on) and water in, if it's dry. Not very likely at the moment but if it doesn't rain, keep it watered.

Don't be frightened and good luck! Chris

 

you can do as little as you want, you could rake the soil up a bit lay turf or sow grass seed, and so long as you kept it wet in dry weather, it would grow and look perfectly acceptable. The more work you put in the better the fininsh. You could hire a rotivator (£30 ish) this will loosen the soil (you could dig it but thats a big job if the lawn is large) after this rake it level walk in close steps all over the lawn to take out any air gaps, then rake it level again, if the soil feels good you may not need topsoil, but if you want a tip top finish or have really poor soil it will help. When you add walk and level the soil again.
If you want an imaculate finish you can go further, or for a rough and ready patch of grass do less.