Levelling soil in prep for lawn seed or turf

[curium]

My lawn was really badly damaged after some works this winter plus the wet weather. This led to it becoming very compacted and at one point I was forced to cover an area with sharp sand so aid travel over it during the works as it was so wet and boggy

A large area of the grass died or just disappeared into the compacted soil.

So I've dug it up to relieve some of the compaction and start again. It is clay so I threw in the remaining sharp sand as well.

Obviously freshly dug soil occupies a lot more space than settled soil.

I want to get it roughly level with the path edging on the right of the photo and intend to place a mowing strip on the left.

Any thing I can do to aid the settling process?

I'm hoping this dry spell will hold for at least a week so I can break up some of the larger clods as they dry out.

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My plan currently is to break up the larger clods as they dry and rake it roughly level while walking over it in dry weather to settle it.

It would be nice to be able to sow a lawn by April!

 

[pinenot]

Knock the big clods down and smack down (back of spade) or roll the surface, then loosening with a fork, in a similar way to spiking the lawn. This will settle the soil and at the same time if you spade it around to a level of sorts, then this will both reduce to near final settlement and provide a finer tilth for either turfing or sowing. Finish for turfing with 20 mm of sharp sand to aid rooting and drainage, whilst for sowing incorporate a similar amount of sand into the tilth surface of the soil, by repeated hoeing and raking level, the use of a roller helps break flatten the surface, but slightly high rather than level to the surrounding path, would be best because further settlement will take place over the first several months...pinenot

 

[curium]

Knock the big clods down and smack down (back of spade) or roll the surface, then loosening with a fork, in a similar way to spiking the lawn. This will settle the soil and at the same time if you spade it around to a level of sorts, then this will both reduce to near final settlement and provide a finer tilth for either turfing or sowing. Finish for turfing with 20 mm of sharp sand to aid rooting and drainage, whilst for sowing incorporate a similar amount of sand into the tilth surface of the soil, by repeated hoeing and raking level, the use of a roller helps break flatten the surface, but slightly high rather than level to the surrounding path, would be best because further settlement will take place over the first several months...pinenot

Cheers for that

Do you think there would be any point in hiring a tiller/rotavator to break the clods down after they've had a few days to dry out?

I was considering hiring one for the day but am unsure how realistic it is to expect it to produce finer soil tilth

 

[pinenot]

That will depend how hard the clods are, but it sounds like you need to get some compost/soil conditioner in the soil, try checking if your local council offers this. Mine does and it's free of charge but limited to three bags/ ...pinenot