Lawn/turf

[birdybirdy21]

Last year we rotovated our garden and put down grass seed.

The grass has grown back but it's quite patchy around the edges and in the shaded areas and it is full of weeds. The ground really needs levelling. We did roller the ground after rotovating it but it didn't make that much difference.

We are now thinking about turfing the garden. How do we go about doing this properly?

to prepare the ground properly, rotivate the ground again or turn all the earth over so the grass you have is underneath earth - this will kill the grass - then rake it all level and flatten it. i would leave it like this for a a couple of weeks so it gets soaked in the rain as the earth will sink in places because its been dug over, once youve fixed any sinkage then rake it flat again and you should be able to put turf down at this stage. add some fertiliser to the ground before you put the turf down though as it will help feed the ground. when putting turf down use some big boards to walk on so you dont get foot prints in the ground and make sure the turf is laid tightly together so there is no gaps between it

I wouldn't use a roller on a lawn - all you will do is compact the soil underneath which causes issues. we spray our lawn with weed killer 3 times a year to keep the weeds in the grass at bay. every year it gets scarified and we put seed down to help thicken the grass up.

And I would just add, keep it well watered after laying turf, and don't let it dry out.

I guess turf comes in different grades, whether you want a lawn for kids and animals, so good and tough, or whether it's a luxury fine lawn. Lawns don't like too much shade.

I haven't checked, but I dare say the RHS has articles on turf buying and laying.