Am about to cover existing garden (back) with topsoil intending to seed grass shortly...........

The term 'topsoil' is a pet hate of mine. The thing is, just because something looks nice and crumbly, doesnt necessarily mean it's any good for growing anything in. Questions that come to my mind are: Where did it come from? Is it in fact topsoil or is it subsoil (they look the same). Are you importing pests into your area in this soil that don't exist in your area? How old is the soil? The technical definition of topsoil is the top few inches of soil that contains the majority of the soil biota - the living things that live in teh soil. If its been in bags in a warehouse for months, then all the soil biota will be dead and that soil will have ceased to be topsoil!

Sorry for the rant - i did say it was my pet hate! LOL

But in answer to your question - the existing soil should be prepared - remove weeds as tehy will just push through and if it's compacted, you should fork it over, otherwise you might find that the topsoil becomes waterlogged.

If you do those things and add a bit of organic matter in the form of compost or rotted down manure, you probably won't need to add this so-called topsoil (which is probably the waste from a building site where they've dug out the foundations and thought "how can we make money out of this pile of mud?"). Always best to work with and, if necessary, improve what you've got rather than importing a new problem.

Thanks to Sid for your advice. I need to bring up the level too, but it's nice to know what I'm dragging in!!!!!!

TOMMy