I have an appalling lawn. It is mainly mud and brown patches with some tatty
grass. One of the previous house owners apparently grew trees and has left
really poor soil under the lawn. I have tried the usual lawn sand,
fertilsers etc over the past three years but nothing works. I think it is
time to destroy the lot and reseed or turf to create a tough lawn. I would
like a little advice on the best way to do this.

Should I rotovate the entire lawn area, add lawn fertiliser/compost and then
seed it, or strip off the lawn and then rotovate the soil and seed it? Or is
there a better way of doing it. This is also a chance to try and remove some
of the raised areas in the lawn to make it more level.

I am trying to create a tough rather than luxury lawn, so hardwearing grass
will be the preference.

Nick

In article , Mistaya
writes
I have an appalling lawn. It is mainly mud and brown patches with some tatty
grass. One of the previous house owners apparently grew trees and has left
really poor soil under the lawn. I have tried the usual lawn sand,
fertilsers etc over the past three years but nothing works. I think it is
time to destroy the lot and reseed or turf to create a tough lawn. I would
like a little advice on the best way to do this.

Should I rotovate the entire lawn area, add lawn fertiliser/compost and then
seed it, or strip off the lawn and then rotovate the soil and seed it? Or is
there a better way of doing it. This is also a chance to try and remove some
of the raised areas in the lawn to make it more level.

I am trying to create a tough rather than luxury lawn, so hardwearing grass
will be the preference.

There are a variety of ways in which you could tackle that problem, so
watch the responses to your enquiry and choose whichever you prefer.

What I would recommend is first mow whatever grass you have very
closely, then slice off the high parts of the area with a spade and use
the material to make up the low parts. Then lightly rotovate the
surface, just deep enough to refresh it and to provide a seedbed. Rake
it all over and apply a dressing of lawn grass seed of your choice. That
is known as over-seeding. You won't need to feed the area again this
year because of the nutrients already in the soil.

Don't worry about the existing grasses in the type of lawn you are
aiming for, they will become part of it. Don't worry either about non-
grass plants, most of those will die off when you begin regular mowing.
Choose the height of grass you want, then mow at that height often
enough for light cuts, i.e don't leave it for weeks to go rampant.

By autumn you will have a lawn to be proud of!
--
Alan & Joan Gould - North Lincs.