Rolling before or after laying out topsoil

[samm1978]

Hi

Just preparing the ground prior to turfing. Have rotavated and levelled the ground as much as possible. I have a bag of topsoil waiting to go on top of that. My questions are:

1) Do I roll the ground before or after I put down the top soil. I'm expecting the top soil layer to be an inch.

2) How fine do I have to get the existing soil? Can I leave small stones (around inch diameter)?

Thanks for your help.

Sam

 

[turningtim]

Standard advice seems to be not to roll at all, it tneds to compact the soil too much and sinks into hollows. Just heel it in then add the top soil and heel that in. But its a really hard job unless you have a lot of people or a small garden