Rotavate to get rid of grass - good or bad idea?

[NeededANameChangeAnyway]

We have a small garden and want to get rid of the grass completely - its mainly moss and nothing we can do will improve it. Its fairly heavy clay soil and I jut cant face digging it all over, is using a rotavator a good idea or will it be worse in the long run? I think there are small patches of couch grass - if we dug that up first then rotavated? I've also seen Bishops weed but its pretty much confined to the edges of beds.

Thanks

Depends - what do you want instead of the grass? Flower beds? Paving? New turf?

Assuming you want flower beds, moss won't rot down in the ground, you'll need to scrape that off first. Personally I'd consider spraying the lot with weedkiller first but that's personal taste.

If it's mossy that's probably because it's compacted, damp and/or shady. Rotating may not get deep enough to relieve the compaction - you'll have a nice fluffy layer on top then a layer of compacted soil that plants can't get their feet into. Either way, add lots of organic matter and maybe even grit if it's that bad.

If it were me, I'd scalp the top off (grass and roots) and bin it. That way, you won't be churning millions of cut-up pieces of couch grass back in to resprout. Then you spread a couple of bulk bags of compost and grit to a depth of 3-4 inches over the surface and leave it for the worms and minibeasts to work for you. If you dig a massive hole when you are planting something new and shove in loads of compost and grit around the roots, you will be delivering that same mix a bit lower too.