Question
it is an area of domestic lawn that suffers from bad drainage my customer would like me to give him a nice lawn for the summer.i have put down a winter feed,i plan to put down a spring/summer feed in earl may the area is 400 sq metres.thanks
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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could you hollow tine a large area and leave the tines on the lawn to break up on their own and do you really need to put down lawn sand afterwards.to help with drainage problem in clay based soil.
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The text above is a follow-up to ...

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could you please tell me what roto tilling is thanks
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Dictionary.com: "to break up (soil) with a rototiller"

with their definition of a rototiller: "a motorized device having spinning blades perpendicular to the ground and arranged like spokes, used for tilling soil"

Versions of this equipment were used for hundreds of years on farms.  Then in the Depression an outfit called The Rototiller Company opened up in New York.  The homestead.com website (http://www.homestead.com/rototiller4/Rototiller.html) posts pictures of some old models.  Somehow a company called Electronic Research, Inc. is claiming it owns the trademark for Rototiller - anything is possible.  If so, we'll all be sued for spelling it lower case.

The idea with rRototilling is efficient digging up and churning of large areas of land, rather than standing there with a hoe and trying to do the same thing.  It used to be considered a great idea.

But science marches on.  And there is new, very credible research that is seeing that r/Rototilling is not always such a great idea.

Churning your soil up into a fine, flour-like powder, which you can do with Rototilling, is now known to obliterate soil structure and basically do more damage than good.  Earthworms and cover crops do a better job.

Sometimes you have no choice.  Rocks and debris plus a need to incorporate large amounts of organic matter sometimes necessitate at least some rototilling.

It is however going the way of the dinosaur.  If you have stock in a company that makes these, it's time to sell.

Don't quote me of course.  I am only The Long Island Gardener.

G'day, Tony.
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Your question worries me, Tony, because my crystal ball here says you might be trying to correct compacted clay soil.

But first things first.

"Hollow Tine Aaeration" is an EXCELLENT way to lighten compacted soil.  It is often scheduled during active lawn growth.  "Core Aerifiers" are the same thing as "Hollow Tine Aerifiers", probably this just regional habit.

The tines pull out big plugs of soil sometimes up to a foot long.  The more plugs you pull out, the more your results.  Should you keep those on the lawn?  It depends on the soil and the lawn.  If you are doing it on bare soil, it makes no difference.  But....

going back to the crystal ball here...

I see a large delivery of sharp sand being trucked over to this plot of ground that was aerated, and the truck is dumping sand down.  A nice man comes along and proceeds to top dress/till in the sand.  This nice man does not know - in fact, it seems that MOST people have NO IDEA - if you combine Clay Soil with Sand you get HARDPAN... the landscaper's worst nightmare.  Well, almost.

Tony, Tell me what your landscaping problem is.  I'll tell you what to do.  Tell me how big it is, what's growing there (or not), what you want to grow there now and eventually, what equipment you have.  I'll set you straight.  Promise.

Answer
I can tell you exactly what to do Tony - tell me your zipcode or region of the world, how much sun is there, any trees or other plants growing there, what kind of soil do you think it is?

How do you know it has bad drainage?  Is it at the bottom of a slope/hill?  Is there something under the ground keeping the water from draining?  Is it high in clay?  rsvp!