Preparing new lawns

Prepare soil for a new lawn ready to sow or turf next month. Autumn is ideal for preparing new lawns as the grass has plenty of time to put down strong roots before it starts to grow in earnest next spring – so it’ll be well established by the time you come to enjoy it in summer.

Preparing new lawns 

As well as preparing larger areas of soil, it’s also a good time to clear and reseed worn areas of the lawn or repair edges. Water the area well the day before you start to make sure the soil is in really good condition. For lawn repairs, use a sharp garden spade to cut away the turf to make a neat rectangle of bare earth.

Fork over the entire area you want to sow to about half the depth of the tines on a garden fork – about 15cm. Bang any clods with the back of the fork to break them up as much as possible, then use a rake in two directions to get the soil as even as possible and to break up rough areas of soil further.

Follow this up by treading the surface down with the heels of your feet, then rake again. By now the consistency of the soil should begin to resemble breadcrumbs. For smaller areas, you can take a short cut and scatter a layer of compost or soil conditioner over the top – though tread and rake this as well to make sure it’s level.

Carry on until you’re happy that you have the soil perfectly level, with a good crumbly texture Your lawn is now ready to sow or turf: just pop into the garden centre here in Pickering and pick up a lawn seed mix suited to your conditions, or order up your turf ready to lay from next month.