Creating a lawn from scratch is very easy and early autumn is the perfect time to do this.The soil is still warm and there is the promise of autumn rains to ensure it establishes before winter.

Once you decided to make a lawn you have to decide weather to create it by using turf or seed.There are several grades of seed and turf that fall into two main groups, show lawns and hard wearing lawns.

Show lawns contain grass seeds that you would find on a putting green on the golf coarse or on a bowling green.These grass seeds are not hard wearing and would soon be damaged if played on by children or pets.Show lawns look great but require more maintainance regular mowing.

Hard wearing lawns contain low growing rye grass seeds that will stand up to more punishment, and if damaged make a much faster recovery in repairing themselves.Ideal for a good quality practical lawn.

Turf makes a new lawn straight away it only needs to establish itself before it can be walked on.However it is more expensive than growing your lawn from sowing seed.

Sowing grass seed in the autumn will give you a lovely lawn but you will not have a useable lawn for a few months.It is much cheaper than turfing and you can get various varieties of lawn seed.You can even get special mixtures for shady lawns or wildflower lawns, but for general use get one that contains dwarf rye grasses.

Ground preparation make sure you clear all the weeds away and dig over the soil to at least 15cm.Remove all large stones brick or rubble and rake the soil level, then the entire lawn area needs firming down.Once firm apply a general fertilizer such as growmore to the area at a handful per square metre, then give a final rake to produce a fine crumbly firm surface.

Laying Turf start by laying a row of turf around the edge of the area to create a solid edge for the lawn.Fill in by laying the turfs in rows when you come to the end of the row cut off the surplus turf and use to start the next row.

Make sure the turf is butted together so there are no gaps or joints exposed, to protect the turf it is best to work from a plank.This will spread your body weight and will actually help to firm down the turf as you work. Any joints standing proud can be tapped down with the back of a rake.

After laying keep off the turf for a couple of weeks to allow to establish.In dry weather it is essential to keep the turf moist and avoid shrinkage.If cool or showery less watering is required but keep checking daily to make sure the turf is not drying out.

Sowing seed Sprinkle the seed thinly over the prepared soil allow about 45g per square metre.Once sown lightly rake over the area to remove your footprints and make sure the seed is in contact with the soil.

Germination takes between two and three weeks depending on the weather.When the new grass is about 5cm long carefully walkover the area to pick up any large stones that have come to the surface.Now it is time to give your new lawn its first cut to remove the tips of the new grass.This encourages the grass to thicken out when the lawn has been mown several times and the lawn can be used but it will not be until next spring that it is fully established.

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