[Casey76]

Morning all,

After looking into buying ready made turf and realising it would be prohibitively expensive I'm just going to have to reseed.

I'm not exactly sure how I should start.

The front garden looks like:


It could be described as "undulating" and is quite heavy clay.  It is also quite compacted after being walked on all winter while all of the digging was going on.

Although I'm not after "the perfect lawn" a nice area of grass would be nice - daisies and clover is permissable - so is the odd dandelion... nettles and creeping buttercups are not (which is the problem I had last autumn).  All, or most, of the roots should now have been dug up and disposed of.

Should the surface be stripped off anyway? Rotavated? where do I start???

(and is there any possibility of having a nice garden by August when my mum comes to visit?)

[Lardman]

If you saw how the people next door seeded and the lush green lawn it turned into you would be worrying !

If you have a rotovator go ahead and break the soil up but I wouldn't buy one for the job. Fork it over and rake it flatish, if you can get a fine tilth all the better, if not grab a few bags of good top soil from somewhere to mix your seed in, scatter and keep from drying out but don't puddle it. You'll have a nice looking lawn in no time at all.

[JayG]

Agree with Lardman - unless the area is severely compacted and also boggy (it doesn't look like it from your picture) then you would be wasting time and energy digging it over, because you need it to be fairly well tamped down to make sure you don't end up with a load of annoying bumps and hollows.

If you are concerned about it, you could try forking whatever the French equivalent of sharp sand is into the top 6" or so to improve drainage before tamping, raking level, and seeding.

There's every chance of having a pretty decent looking lawn by August if you keep it watered and don't trample it to death whilst it's still establishing.

[Casey76]

Agree with Lardman - unless the area is severely compacted and also boggy (it doesn't look like it from your picture) then you would be wasting time and energy digging it over, because you need it to be fairly well tamped down to make sure you don't end up with a load of annoying bumps and hollows.

Well that's part of the issue - the garden is full of "annoying" bumps and hollows to begin with   some of them are probably unavoidable due to the trees, but even in the middle of the "lawn" there are humps and bumps.

If I was just to fork it over, do you mean turn the soil over (1 fork depth)?  Charlie, who is helping me with the heavy work, has already broken two forks this winter (yes, they ground is compact heavy clay )

I think I could hire a rotorvator from the Agri-centre if that would make more sense?

[Lardman]

Grass doesn't have really deep roots, forking it over just breaks things up so the seed has something to grab hold of and improves drainage. If it's going to be hassle flatten out the hollows, fill them in with additional material. 

Im not sure what prices are like over there but it may pay you just to have 1t of clean top soil delivered, rake/tread it flat and then sow onto that.  I'll grab a picture of the area Im going to re-seed in the spring, it's far worse than your picture !

[Growster...]

I'd just keep knocking down the bumps, and raking them to look good where you can.  Then use a piece of wood about the size of a pallett panel, say 1"x 4", nail it to a handle of sorts, so it looks like a rake without tines, and keep moving the loose soil around on the top until it just 'looks right', and you can se what you're going to get when the seed germinates!

As the others here say, stop walking around on it too much,( but you'll have to to some extent), so broadcast the seed, but that's the last time you should do that!

Hope for rain, or chuck some fine hose everywhere, and you'll be away!

Right time of year too, so you'll be fine by summer!

[Goosegirl]

Agree with both Growster and JayG. Some sharp and/grit could be incorporated into the top by making holes with a grden fork and wiggling it about, then brush the sand over the surface so some go into the holes to help aerate the clay. I would also try and get some been-and-queued big compost bales and rake it into the surface, then use Growster's plank to level it. If you then tread lightly over it by "waddling like a duck" then rake again, it should firm the surface. Any rain (?) will help to settle it, then rake again and add some BFB about a week before sowing.

[mumofstig]

Do they have Been & Queued in France     though of course they must have something like it - but they may not do cheap 

[Casey76]

Nope, they certainly don't do been&queued here.  Potting compost usually starts at around 6,50€ for 40L - and that is supermarket stuff... garden centre stuff can go up to 20,00€ for 40L!!!