If you've got young children and you want them to be able to play on the lawn before August, you might consider laying turf rather than seeding the area. Once the seed has started growing, it needs cutting with shears the first two cuts (though I use a flymo, seems fine, but ordinary mowers can't be used) and the area cannot be used 'normally' for 3 months. It can be lightly walked over occasionally, but not used for any other purpose, until its thickened up and put down good roots, which takes around 3 months.

Regarding soil preparation, you mention rotovating - what was growing in the area before you did that, or was weed removal carried out first?

They used to be an unused garden and old paving stones. The soil has suffered over the years but looks quite good quality after rotavating, and the children will not be able to play on the lawn until it is fully grown this summer or however long it may takes. Turfing is not possible because financially we cannot afford it. Would it be wise to cover the area with a bone meal to treat the soil or shall we just use a seed or turf fertiliser. I wondered if both might be necessary or either alobg with the top soil layer that we will be padding

Thanks Nik

P.s. sorry forgot to mention all weeds were removed before rotavating

Okay, thanks. No, don't add bonemeal to the area, the best thing would have been to rotovate in some composted manure or soil conditioning compost, to get the soil fertility up in a natural way. Bonemeal in the top layer of soil will attract foraging animals, and may burn the roots of the seeds once they germinate, but if you're adding topsoil, mix in some composted manure or soil conditioning compost (not multi purpose or any other variety of potting compost) from the garden centre when you're spreading it over. To make sure its all flat, once you've spread the soil and compost mix over as evenly as you can, walk all over the area on your heels, close together. This will compress the soil and you'll find out where the lower parts or 'soft spots' are. Then rake over and amend where necessary. You need a fine tilth on the top for sowing seed, so as long as you've managed to achieve that, then sow the seed. If the soil is heavy and the area isn't small, use a board (old floorboard, scaffold board) to walk or stand on, lay it on the ground, then move it backwards as you sow. If the soil isn't damp enough, use a sprinkler after sowing, and keep the area well watered till germination occurs. Alternatively, once its been watered, you may want to cover the area (depends on the size) with plastic sheeting, but you need to check it every day for signs of germination - as soon as you see any, remove the plastic. There is a risk at this time of year if you do use plastic though - hot sun on the plastic won't do the seeds any good at all, so depends on weather conditions whether you want to bother with that. At this time of year, if the weather isn't too cold, you should see germination within a fortnight even without plastic.

Don't allow the seedbed to dry out and as it grows on, water as necessary. When it reaches about 6 inches long, trim with shears, and repeat when it gets that long again. Don't run on it or walk on it if you don't have to, its easy to uproot a newly grown lawn if done from seed. The third cut should also technically be with shears, particularly if you have cylinder mower, but if its a hover, you can use that. Don't use any chemical feeds at all this year, unless you want to put down an Autumn Feed in September. Grass is normally fed twice during the growing season, around March or April and again six to eight weeks later, but never later than June.

There is no need to add bone meal or seed fertilizer. Too much fertilizer can damage the young grass sprouts. Certain types of fescue do better in poorer soils. Save the fertilizer for later routine maintenance. Since you have added new top soil and prepped the ground, you should be ready to seed the ground. There are different types of fescue blends for different conditions; sunny, shady, wet, dry, etc. Be sure to get the proper blend for your particular site. Seek assistance from a pro at the garden center.

Don't sow the fescue seed too thickly, keep it watered - daily. Don't cut it until it reaches 4 inches.