Preparation for lawn.

[Mark S.]

Asked this in gardening but I must look too scruffy/builderfied coz no one answered. ;-)

I've removed the old turf and about four inches of soil filled with (couch grass?) roots. I left it a few weeks to see what grew back and have been digging and weeding the survivors out. The old three sided border I want to reduce in size I've been digging and weeding for about 18 months. I've been sieving and digging in soil from the back garden where I've a surplus to start making the level back up in the front as it is obviously low in places from the above and it's general shoddy state beforehand.

Is there anything I need to do before digging out my grass seed now it's not so hot and how do you level the ground off properly rather than by eye?

I'm sure there's some simple method to do it but think it's something you learn from someone telling you how to do it?

Mark S.

[Niel A. Farrow]

I finished doing this a few months ago and my back is just about ok no?

Levelling. If you want to be very particular you use paegs, string, and a spirit level. Make a mark on one peg wherr you want the soil level to be and tranfer this mark using the string and spirit level to the other pegs, then rake the soil about.

For my plot I tugged an old heavy wooden ladder around. Attached the ends of some rope to each end of the ladder and went all over the garden. I also raked to level the obvious areas which were low/high. Make sure you pick out the thatch of old grass if you have any. I then stomped around to tamp it down (should have rented a roller though - £5 from the local place, water filled which comes empty so easy to get to and from the rental place). Have you priced turf? I was on a very tight budget but decided on turf. Goes down quick and it stops the weeds coming up - my soil was mostly couch grass and the dreaded ground elder.

Neil

[mike ring]

[e-mail] (Niel A. Farrow) wrote in news:bitneu$rpo$ [e-mail]: Have you priced turf? I was on a very

If you are using turf I should try to do it at a rainy time - I put it down

2 years ago in spring and it was very dry for weeks.

I watched the turf shrink and curl up, in spite of watering like crazy, and it was also very cold, so getting out each evening bundled up against a wind from Siberia with a hosepipe was rather unpleasant, and I expected to be put in a soft cell.

You shouldn't be so unlucky, but a glance at long range forecasts may be helpful

mike r

[Niel A. Farrow]

If it is hot just water. I layed my turf on the hotest day this year and just watered every day for a week, then weekly and now 2 months later it's fine. Neil