Handy tips for creating and maintaining a lush lawn

Spring and autumn are the best times to create a new lawn. You'll need to prepare the ground at least a month in advance and decide whether to grow a lawn from seed or lay ready-prepared sod. Here are some handy tips to help you create and maintain a healthy lawn.

• A firm, level surface is essential. Trample the earth and break up clods with a rake, removing weeds and large stones.
• Compact the soil to make it firm by using a roller or taking small overlapping steps with your weight on your heels.
• Rake over the ground several times in different directions to create a crumbly, even surface.
• Select seed or turf to meet your requirements — lawns that will get repeated use by a family need hard-wearing grass mixtures. Fine grasses with a "bowling green" effect will be less resilient.

Putting down sod has the advantage of giving you an immediate and more predictable result, and can be done in summer if necessary, but is much more costly than sowing seed.

1. Buy rolls of sod and set in a shaded area. If they can't be laid within 24 hours of purchase water them lightly.
2. Set a plank on your prepared area and unroll the first rolls of sod against the straight edge. Lay alternate courses of sod in staggered rows, working from the plank.
3. Bang the surface with the back of a rake to firm it in. Brush fine topsoil into the cracks and water it in. Repeat if any cracks open up later.
4. Don't worry at this stage about shaping sod to fit your lawn area. Wait until it has taken, then trim any excess with a knife or lawn edger.

This method is quick and inexpensive, and there is a wider range of grass types to choose from, but a new lawn of this type can take six months to mature and is susceptible to bird and cat damage.

• Whichever type of seed you choose, allow 30 to 60 grams (one to two ounces) per square metre (square yard).
• Peg out strings one metre (three feet) apart, then place bamboo canes across them to form an area of one square metre (one square yard).
• Sprinkle the seed evenly across the square.
• Repeat for the remaining area, repositioning the bamboo canes as you go.
• Rake seed in lightly and evenly.
• Deter birds with bird scarers or crisscross black cotton thread five to eight centimetres (two to three inches) above the surface, between pegs.

Creating and maintaining your lawn may be easier than you think. Keep these tips in mind and get started on a beautiful lawn you'll enjoy all year!