Preparing the Ground
A thorough job here makes a big difference.
New Lawn Pre-Seeding & Turfing Fertiliser is in the Lawnsmith Shop and discussed below:
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If the area already exists as a lawn or has plants in it kill the whole area first if you have time. This will reduce the occurrence of future weeds and weed grasses in your new lawn. Use glyphosate as this degrades on contact with the soil leaving no harmful residue.
Once everything is dead, perhaps after a couple of weeks, strip off any turf with a spade, turf iron or petrol turf cutter available from Hire Shops. This may seem unnecessary hard work particularly if your next step is to dig or rotovate the area. Unfortunately, existing turf will not break up readily thereby making it harder work to rotovate or dig. In addition the old turf will cause a bumpy lawn containing air pockets which will then increase the bumpiness over time. So, remove the old turf and if you have a place to store it then do so as it will eventually rot down and make a great compost or top dressing later on.
At any stage during lawn preparation be prepared to pick up or rake out stones and debris such as roots. The quality of lawn you are constructing will determine how far you go with this process. And if perfection is your goal then consider bringing in double screened (1/4” sieved) sandy loam topsoil for the top few inches.
If you have had a soil test done now is the time to plan and order those amendments that you are going to make. These may include:
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Addition of lime to acidic soils
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Addition of organics and humus to poor, very sandy or heavy clay soils
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Addition of loam top soil to very sandy soils
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Addition of sandy loam top soil to clay soils
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Addition of loam top soil if the depth of existing soil is less than 4”
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Addition of pre-seeding or pre-turfing fertiliser such as Lawnsmith® STARTER Lawn Feed*
Double dig or rotovate the soil to a depth of 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cms). Less depth, say 10cms is okay but if you’re going to the trouble of digging it up you might as well do it thoroughly. Rotovate at least twice and if the depth and tilth are not reasonably uniform repeat the process again at right angles if possible or use a garden fork to break up any large clods and make the area more uniform. Your fertiliser should be incorporated at the end of this stage.
Heavy soils will break up more easily when they are on the dry side which will also prevent them from smearing on the rotovator blades. If this happens stop and let the ground dry a little otherwise you could be causing drainage problems later on. Conversely, sandy soils may well need some moisture to maintain the texture. Friable is the word used to describe the result we wish to achieve; a crumbly soil that is neither great clods of clay nor a loose sandy beach!
If you are not adding soil amendments nor trying to create a master piece then skip the next section and move on to Readying for Grass Seed or Turf
