Lawn Help - Clay Soil

[Merryoldgoat]

Hi - I need some help. I'm very much a beginner gardener and I've moved to a house with a very uneven and weed-y lawn on top of a clay soil. I've been googling and reading but the reality I have very limited funds so can't chuck money at it.

Drainage is reasonable, it doesn't seem to get boggy out there.

I want a nice lawn - it doesn't need to be a show-lawn, just decent and pleasant for the kids to play on.

I was thinking that I should do the following:

Remove the existing turf
Till the soil and add in some compost
Level it out a bit
Lay new turf on top.

1. Does this sound right?
2. How would I level it out?

Any tips/pointers greatly received

We had ours done a few years ago. The guy sprayed off the lawn to kill it off, then a few weeks later used a rotorvator. Looked hard work but turned the soil into a very fine soil. Then used long wood to level it out. It needed compressing and I think is better left for a few weeks to settle but he needed to get on with it so walked all over it and pressed it down.

Result is great though.

A cheaper option: take the turf off the lumpy bits, remove soil from the hump and put the turf back. Take the turf out of the hollows, fill the hollows with the spare soil taken from the humps and put that turf back on top again. Hey presto, a flatter lawn.

Best time for doing that would be end Sept / early Oct so it has time to recover before winter. Early spring, sprinkle seed over the whole thing.

Alternatively use an autumn lawn preparation now to get rid of the weeds, and then do the hump rearranging in the spring.