Is a rotator up to the job?

davetaller

Looking for some advice. The lawn area of my rear garden is approx. 60 square metres. It has been in place for many years, and is well compacted. It has a slope, and a twist, and a good few hollows and peaks. I wish to get it to a regular level, prior to re-turfing. I have looked on tube, and remain unconvinced, if the blades will cut through the top 3 inches of turf, then enable me, to make a 2nd, pass, a little deeper. There is quite a bit of clay mixed in with the soil, to give a clearer picture of the job ahead. Any tips or pointers will be welcome. Many thanks in anticipation.

greyteam1959

For a start it's a rotavator not a rotator !
The best thing to do us remove the top couple of inches of turf THEN use the rotavator.
If you don't remove the turf first you will just have to remove it later when you have chopped it up into little bits.

davetaller

greyteam1959 said:

For a start it's a rotavator not a rotator !
The best thing to do us remove the top couple of inches of turf THEN use the rotavator.
If you don't remove the turf first you will just have to remove it later when you have chopped it up into little bits.

Thanks for your reply. On the basis of minimising hire costs, I was hoping that the rotavator would do both jobs; with a slow pass, to shred the turf into a "lumpy"consistency, which I could use along with the soil; prior to the manual work of barrowing it, to the required area. I cannot get a mini digger in there, which may have been better. Best way forward anyone? Thanks.

Farway

As Greyteam says, plus unless it is a really tough industrial strength rotovator the blades will skim over  the grass & not really dig in, then it will clog with grassy lumps which you will have to unclog as you go

I tried this years ago with an allotment, not an easy job, it's back breaking trying to steer a rotovator with a mind of it's own trying to seek an easy path instead of digging in compacted ground

Surprisingly the easier option is remove the top surface first as GT suggests

How feasible would it be to fill in the hollows etc with fresh topsoil prior to re-turfing?

Apodemus

I'm sure I don't need to say this, but if you are going to rotavate the existing turf, make sure that you have killed it properly first with a systemic herbicide and waited the required time before re-seeding or turfing over.