Get ready for a new lawn

Whether turfing or seeding, do the groundwork now

- RUTH HAYES

SPRING is one of the best times to lay or sow a new lawn, and while conditions in late February are still too cold and damp for the best results, you can start laying the groundwork now.

There are pros and cons for turf and seed-grown lawns. Turf gives a faster result and you can walk (carefully) on your new grass within a couple of days of laying, but it is more expensive and you don’t get the variety of grasses that you do when you grow from seed.

Grass seed is the cheaper option and you are likely to be able to buy a mix of seeds for different requirements; a shady area or patch that gets more use for example. If a pristine lawn is your goal, you can buy ‘fine’ seed that is slow-growing and can be mown to a low level.

Whichever you choose, the ground preparation is more or less the same.

Five or six weeks before you plan to start the lawn, thoroughly weed the area you wish to grass over, making sure you remove every scrap of perennial weed.