Ways to level soil for new lawn?

Naf

I had considered letting weeds & any remaining grass start growing from the prepared soil, then killing them off with the Rosate before sowing.
If I did sow now, or in a month's time; will the result just be rubbish and a waste of my time, even if I do keep the soil watered in hot/dry spells?

Leif

My guess is that it'd be fine if you water it when needed, but I have not tried. I'm about to rotavate my lawn, and I will seed some areas later this month, as I can water them using collected rain water. I can only fail.

I got a lot of weeds in the area of awn I seeded last October, but hand weeding and broadleaf weedkiller sorted them out.

Mojisola

The RHS advice is useful -
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advicesearch/profile.aspx?pid=424#section4

BaileyB

To people hire rotovators or just use a fork (eek)

Leif

My neighbour used a fork to turn over his lawn before reseeding. It is hard work and I doubt you could dig in sharp sand evenly.

wallbash

. Obviously you dig the sand in, not leave it on the surface.

Glad you cleared up your mistake.

Leif

wallbash wrote: »

Glad you cleared up your mistake.

What a stupid remark. You rather ungraciously had a go at me for correcting a factual error in your post, and rather than have the humility to admit your error, you post the above. :mad:

I had assumed you had the intelligence to realise the 1" of sand is a way to tell you how much sand to dig in. I apologise for assuming you have some intelligence.

I suggest your signature should be "Never knowingly understood".

marleyboy

I hired a Rotavator to level out the lawn in my previous property, there was little choice as it had a huge hill slap bang in the middle of it.

It was hard work, but the end result was worth the trouble in order to make it, at the very least, level and evened out.

Ash_McCloud

Leif wrote: »

Oh, and the books recommend compacting down by walking over it, while putting your weight on your heels. As you say, if you don't compact it, it will end up uneven with time.

^^ This is what I'd suggest.

Fork/rotovate the ground, then rake it roughly level, knocking any big lumps of earth apart.

Then tread over the whole area, walking on your heels from side to side.

Then rake level again, and work the top level to a fine tilth ready for seeding.

It's very important to compact the ground as thoroughly as you can otherwise there'll be loads of air pockets left underground and the lawn will sink in time.

Leif

marleyboy wrote: »

I hired a Rotavator to level out the lawn in my previous property, there was little choice as it had a huge hill slap bang in the middle of it.

Can you remember roughly the area of lawn, the depth you went down to, and the type of rotavator? I used my Lidl one yesterday, and it is too weedy for the whole lawn, so I will hire one.