Hello All,

It has been many years since I did any gardening - the last time was over 20 years ago as a child - and I have no experience whatsoever with lawns. I am starting again now with a new house. My current task is to turn what is still the remains of a building site into a garden and the very first thing I need to do is to lay a lawn along the side of the house. I am hoping that I will get some useful tips here. I give a few details below

a. The side of the house is 11m long and tapers from 4m down to just over 2m.
b. Along the 11m length the ground slopes downwards towards the street - a total drop of around 50cm.
c. The soil appears to be very well drained but is somewhat rocky - the remains of the build.

What I want to do is to use rollout turf to lay a lawn here. I want something that will be low maintenance and will do a good job of stopping weeds and other unwanted guests growing through.

Questions

a. What sort of ground preparation do I need? Should I, for instance, lay a good layer of garden soil before I lay the turf?
b. Should I consider breaking up the 11m length so the slope in each section is somewhat less than the current grade of 4.5%?
c. What are the options with rollout turf - is there just the one kind or are there many varieties.
d. What sort of regular maintenance will be required? Will I be able to avoid use of chemical pesticides & weed killers?

OK - I am a real newbie and it shows. But I hope that I will get some useful advice nevertheless