Making a new lawn takes time. Whether you decide to opt for sowing seed or laying turf, the advance preparation needs to be done thoroughly. You will find it much harder to put things right when grass is covering the ground. But once it is done, a properly laid lawn lasts a lifetime.

Turf

Turf gives you an instant lawn and it can be laid over quite a large part of the year. The usual time for turf laying is from autumn to spring, except when the ground is frozen or muddy. It is risky to lay turf in late spring or summer, because it may not 'take' properly in hot weather and, in any case, will need an awful lot of watering to keep it alive. My advice is to stick to autumn.

Turf is an expensive way to create a lawn. Decent turf costs roughly as much as carpet. And it takes quite a long time to lay. Check what you are actually buying. Cultivated turf is the best buy for a good-quality lawn. Meadow turf is cheaper but is often full of weeds and a job lot may contain a few turves that cannot be used because they have bare patches or are of uneven thickness. Above all, buy the type of turf that suits the type of lawn you need. Extremely expensive turf is a waste of money if it is to be used for non-league football matches.

Seed

People always think growing grass from seed takes too long, as you have to stay off it for months while it grows. That is true, but if you choose to sow in autumn, you will have a perfectly usable lawn by spring. And you probably would not have wanted to use it much in winter anyway.

You can also sow in spring, but it will be three months before you have a real lawn, which is a time when you would have wanted to use the garden. If a spring start is your only option, turf is the best bet.

If you do choose seed, you can select a variety that is perfect for your situation. You can get grass seed that suits dry or shady positions, or which has wildflower seeds already mixed into it. But for family use, choose a hard-wearing mixture containing one of the modern ornamental ryegrasses like 'Hunter'. They look good and don't send up spiky seed-heads.

Soil preparation

Preparation is the foundation of a good lawn and worth taking a bit of time over. Start by getting rid of perennial weeds. Use a glyphosate-based weedkiller six weeks before you plan to begin work on the lawn. Dig the area over well. Avoid using a rotary cultivator as it is difficult to make the machine penetrate deep enough, although sometimes it is the only option if you have a large area and a bad back, or are short of time. Then sprinkle fertilizer. You can use a general kind such as blood, fish and bone, but it is better to use a proper pre-seeding lawn fertilizer. Next, rake several times. The first pass is to level out the ruts left by digging. The second is to gather up all the stones, roots and hard lumps. The third raking leaves a smoother, finer surface. You spoil the effect by trampling all over it to firm the ground down well, before raking it once more to get rid of the footprints. By then the surface will be ready for turfing or seeding.

Aftercare

Grass seed grows unevenly to start with and often comes up along with a lot of weeds, but don't worry - within a few weeks it will all sort itself out. Give it the first cut when most of the grass is about 5cm (2in) high. Do this by hand with shears if you can. Otherwise choose a day when the grass is completely dry and just cut the top with a lightweight electric or hover mower with the blades at the highest setting. From then on, you can start cutting regularly with the blades set at about an 3cm high. Turf should start rooting into the soil within a few weeks of laying. Wait until this happens before the first cut, but once it has rooted you can start using the lawn normally.

New Lawns

• You should need to water a new lawn only if there is no rain for several days after sowing or turfing; do so thoroughly, then leave it a few days before doing it again. You need to water a new lawn only until the grass is about 2.5cm (1 in) tall, and turf no longer lifts up if you try to peel back a comer.


• Upright weeds like groundsel will die out naturally as soon as you start mowing a new lawn regularly.


• Don't use lawn weedkiller on newly sown lawns until they are over six months old. New turf can be treated as soon as it is properly rooted and starting to grow.