Rotovate or loads of top soil?

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Hi all,

I bought a house last December and am only getting around to sorting out the garden in the last few weeks. It was covered in Ivy and and weeds which I have got rid of most of. I have cleared a fair bit of it but have some landscapers coming to help me finish off next week.

I am still pulling up large Ivy roots at this stage. The garden is about 30 foot wide by 70 foot long and fairly uneven. I am putting decking down at the back wall the full width of the garden and about 20 foot deep. I have taken up most of the sod but there were uneven parts that the turf cutter couldnt get to.

My main question is, should I rotovate the soil then rake the crap out of it for a few weeks or lash a whole load of topsoil on the existing lawn. Either way, the plan is to lay a roll out lawn once Im finished.

Photos attached

Any advise would be appreciated.

Menas

Personally I would have blasted it with roundup to be sure that all the weeds are dead....they can be very determined and survive your best non-chemical efforts to get rid of them as the roots go deep.

But I would definetly rotovate, then level the soil with a rake/planks and then put about an inch of top soil over this.

Level again, spread grass seeds and roll with a roller (you can hire these from a tools hire shop).
The key then is to keep the area well watered (no problem in this weather!) and within a week you will have little green shoots that will develop in to your new lawn.

Some of the experts would suggest that you may want to look at building in some drainage system for the lawn...but that is way beyond my capabilities!

Praetorian Saighdiuir

Thanks Trigger Happy,

I have used Round up on it already, luckily, there does not seem to be any drainage issues so far.