Chipperheads guide to creating a new lawn

[chipperhead]

I firstly used Roundup, sprayed on then left untill the existing grass had died. I then used a Rotovator for hours going over and over until the soil was completely broken up and was almost powdery.

Now is the opportunity to alter your existing soil structure, mine was quite clayey so I added a ton of sharp sand per 10m2. After this I used the rotovator again for a few hours.

Next levelling, using a spirit level you can see the wooden pegs I used to create a level. I then used an aluminium ladder, perfect for getting a flat, level lawn. Tie a rope to both ends and drag it across the surface, it will drag soil away from the high spots and fill in the low areas.

You can just make out from this picture the flatness you can get from using a ladder, you want it like a snooker table.

Next choose seed or turf and what blend of grasses to use. The blend of seed I chose contained Fescues and Bent grasses, if you want to cut your grass short like a bowling or putting green, these are the what's needed.

I used a drop spreader to distribute the seed, if you're using turf once you get the soil really flat it's simple to just roll out, make sure you water it really well.

I can definitely recommend smart edge lawn edging, it fairly expensive but having a neat edge makes a massive difference and is easier to look after.

Mark out your lawn shape using string or a hose.

I then placed a board down to give me a good edge to work against.

Use a half moon edger then I used a spade to dig roughly 6" depth.

The edging.

You peg about 1 in every 4 triangles and the grass grows through it so you can't see them.

The finished look, rub loose soil into the top edge for the grass to grow into.

And finally a few pictures of the finished product.

You can appreciate the neatness of the edging from this photo.

 

[chipperhead]

Nice. How long from planting to getting lawn like that?

There's a couple of years between the top and bottom photos but using turf it can be almost instant, the longest time is probably waiting for the roundup to work.
Using seed, a couple of months to get it started, during this time you'd really need to keep off. Then another couple of months to fill out, if you did it now it'd probably take till the back end of summer to get completely dense.

 

[chipperhead]

Can you explain the sprit level / pegs / ladder thing a bit more? Your pegs look too far apart to be levelled with a spirit level. And were the pegs a guide for the ladder then, as in you used the ladder to flatten the earth until the earth was all equally far beneath the pegs?

I sat the spirit level on a piece of wood so it could span the pegs.
The pegs were used so I could get the soil flat and horizontal, I didn't really use the ladder much at this point.
When I was happy the ground was something like I removed the pegs and starting at one end slowly dragged the ladder across the ground, this scrapes the soil from the high points and drags it into the low parts.
The ladder doesn't dig in the ground though, only scraping the top and taking a small amount if needed, once I'd gone one way I'd then go side to side. Each time you do it the ground gets more level until finally you're dragging it and not moving hardly anything.

You can get a specific tool for the job called a lawn lute but a ladder works practically as well.

 

[chipperhead]

That looks fantastic.

Could you achieve the same results from an existing lawn or is it necessary to pretty much start again?

No, unless you have a really bad soil you don't need to go to such drastic measures.
My soil was a bit clayey, nothing too bad but also I wanted the level of the lawn altering slightly to fit in with my extension and patio.

I'll refer you to my lawn renovation guide which I think you'll find useful.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18012554&highlight=lawn

 

[chipperhead]

My god this thread has given me massive lawn envy. What was the approximate cost chipperhead? Including hire of Rotavator etc.?

Round Up - Tenner ish
Rotovator - Father in Laws
Sharp Sand - I'm struggling to remember about £15 per ton?
Seed - I used one very similair to this http://www.shockasports.co.uk/bowling-green-grass-seed/435-battersby-bowling-green-grass-seed-20kg-bag.html

But by far the biggest cost is time, hard work, long term commitment and especially if you're using seed the loss of using the lawn for some time.

Creating a new lawn is only the first part of a continuous lawn maintenance regime if you want a fine lawn.

 

[chipperhead]

Like anything I guess, it needs long term attention, but I bet you it adds genuine value to the property in terms of the wow factor when prospective buyers look round.

Looks like you've got kids though, so it won't stay nice for long .

Kids aren't a problem we play football, have a bouncy castle etc it's not an issue.
I just move stuff around like the slide etc every few days.

 

[chipperhead]

Sharp sand £15 per ton, down here it's nearly £40 per ton.

Good thing using grass seed, you can choose a mix to suit, depending whether you want a show or utility lawn, a light or shady location.

Chipperhead: how do you find that 'smart edge lawn edging' any problems with it.

The smart edging is absolutely fantastic. It's easy to install and really does finish the lawn off, it makes the lawn look completely different when edged.

No problems with it, just cut the grass as normal and using long handled shears a quick once over round the edge.

Just the initial outlay is quite high.

 

[chipperhead]

Thought I would ask a question in here rather than start a new thread but where is a good place to buy some fertilizer from? I need to get rid of the moss and because it hasnt been done before by the looks of it I think it will need a helping hand.

Ive been looking at this product from Lawnsmith but not sure it its any good or if the price is about right? Its a fairly big lawn (700m^2) so will need quite a bit.

That's a really big lawn!
If you want to just get rid of the moss you'd be better off buying soluble iron, the fertilizer you linked to doesn't contain any iron which is what you need to get rid of moss.
You can buy fertilizer with added iron, just look for +fe on the label.

I use pitchcare.com for all my lawn products which I find cheaper, this is the soluble iron from there, it works out you'll use very roughly £2.50 to treat your full lawn.

http://www.pitchcare.com/shop/soluble-turf-fertiliser/maxwell-bullet-soluble-iron-20kg-bag.html

If you do want to start putting fertilizer down, with the size of lawn you have it's going to start costing you a fair amount of money.