Preparing the Ground for a New Lawn

Laying turf is the satisfying part, and it takes an afternoon. Everything that decides whether the lawn thrives or spends three years looking patchy happens in the week before, underneath. Here's the order of work.

1. Clear what's there

Existing grass and weeds have to go — not mown, removed. Turf laid over dead grass sits on a spongy layer that breaks down unevenly and leaves you with dips. Either lift the old lawn with a turf cutter or spray it out and remove the thatch once it's dead.

Take out rubble, old roots and anything else you find. This is also the moment to fix drainage problems, because you will not be fixing them later without lifting the lawn again.

2. Check what the ground actually is

Dig a spade's depth in a couple of spots. Heavy clay that holds water, or builder's fill that a spade won't go into, both need dealing with before soil goes down. On a heavy clay site, breaking up the subsoil and improving drainage matters more than the depth of topsoil you add on top.

3. Set the levels

Grade the site so it falls away from the house, and check for hollows — water sitting in a low spot kills turf faster than almost anything else. Aim for a fall of around 1 in 100 away from buildings. Firm the graded surface by walking it or rolling it lightly, so you find the soft patches now instead of after the turf is down.

4. Spread the Lawn Mix

Lawn Mix is a blended topsoil made specifically for this job — the balance of organic matter and structure is set up for turf roots striking quickly rather than for shrubs or vegetables.

Use it for: new lawn preparation before turf or seed, laying turf, and top-dressing or levelling an existing lawn later on.

Spread 100–150mm over the prepared base for a new lawn. Rake it level, then firm it lightly again and re-rake — the second pass finds the low spots the first one hid.

5. How much to order

Area × depth, in metres. A 60m² back lawn at 100mm is 6m³. That is worth pausing on, because one truck load carries up to 8m³ of a single material — so a 60m² lawn is one load, but an 90m² lawn at the same depth is two, and priced as two deliveries.

Lawn area	At 100mm	Loads
30m²	3m³	1
60m²	6m³	1
100m²	10m³	2
150m²	15m³	2

If you land just over a load boundary, it is sometimes worth reducing the depth slightly rather than paying for a second delivery — 90mm instead of 100mm is not a meaningful difference to the lawn.

6. Lay it, and water it properly

Turf goes down on moist — not soaked — soil, laid in a brick-bond pattern with the joints staggered and pressed tight so no soil is exposed at the edges. Water it deeply the same day and keep it damp for the first two to three weeks while the roots knit in. That first fortnight is the whole game.

Later on

Keep a note of what a top-dressing pass would take — 10–20mm across the same area, which for a 60m² lawn is under 1m³. It is a small order that makes a tired lawn look new again.

Browse the Soil collection, or work through your numbers with our guide on calculating quantities.