Hi all,

I have some questions about spreading topsoil and planting grass.

I have recently taken ownership of my new house which was built from
scratch. During the building process almost all the topsoil was
excavated and what I am now left with is exposed clay. This clay is
now starting to harden rapidly as summer approaches here in NZ.

Fortunately my section is not big so I don't have too much topsoil to
spread. What I do however need to do is to shovel some of the clay
around the section in order to make the ground levels a little bit
cleaner and neater. Currently there are some lumps on the site where
extra holes were dug and the clay was just dumped there.

So my questions a

1) What is the easiest wayof breaking up hard clay in order to move
and spread at another location of the site.

2) Once I have moved the clay can I just leave it there or should I
compact it? If so then what is a simple way of doing this?

3) I'll be spreading topsoil using a wheelbarrow. Any other easier
ways of doing this? I estimate 10 cubic metres are required so that
would be about 60 wheelbarrow loads! Gonna be a tough couple of days
so any easier methods would be appreciated.

4) Once the topsoil is spread, again, do I need to compact it before
planting grass?

5) How exactly do you plant grass? Do you just grab handfuls of seed
and throw them about?

6) I forgot to mention that there are some weeds present on site.
They've somehow grown through the clay. Should I kill these off with
some weed killer or can I just bury them under the topsoil?

Thanks in advance to all who will read this post and comment on it.

Cheers