soil and lawn

Dig the whole area through with a spade, making a trench as you go, digging out any weeds. Rake stones into the trenches. Leave till the end of February, top dress with a fine layer of compost. Rake over. Tread the ground down firmly, rake over. Give it a fortnight to see if any weeds come through. Rake again, sow seeds.

The biggest mistake most people make with laying a lawn is to provide insufficient soil depth. We've all seen yellow, even white lawns in high summer because the builders left new households with just 4 inches of topsoil. A good lawn is based upon a compost that's 18 inches deep at least. This provides an ample reservoir of water and nutrients for this hungry, fast growing plant to thrive on.