Lawn Question

[ghost32]

Hi, i've been reading all the lawn related threads and I think i've got my head around what i need to do.
but i thought i'd post my situation here just before i go ahead and possibly make a mistake
i have a sloping garden high at the back sloping down to the house. about a 5% slope, 22m long 6m wide (roughly) I've had some building work down out the back and a retaining wall and patio built near the house..
I want to sort the rest of the garden out..
initially it was a jungle, and as such i've cut everything back exposing a mossy lawn, that's uneven all over. it did have a concret path kinda snaking through it which i have since dug up,

I want to level the whole area... re define new borders and lay a new lawn down.
The ground under the soil is clay and flint... BIG chunks of flint.

Some areas near the newly built walls only have clay on top as i've been back filling behind the walls.


as reading the previous posts what i I think i need to do is.

1. Find out the depth of the soil in the garden.
2. use a cultivator or power digger ( can some exlpain to me the difference????) and remake the levels of my garden.
http://www.hss.com/c/1014440/Garden-Clearance.html
also removing as much of the larger stone as possible
3. re-define the new borders
4. buy in extra topsoil/lofty sand anlay the turn


I know this is rough but am i going in the right direction?

 

[LeadFarmer]

Sounds about right to me.

When you say it was a jungle, do you mean it was full of weeds or plants? If weeds, they really need digging out. Just cutting them back will probably cause them to return again pretty soon.

If your now left with a large expanse of unsuitable lawn, you need to remove it. You could hire a turf cutter for a day. This will slice the old turf off, so you can then roll it up and dispose.

You could then wait to see if any weeds appear in the soil, and spray with something such as 'Roundup'. After that, you can rotavate and add soil/sand, tread down with your feet to compress the soil, rake over and lay your new turf.