Gardening: Fancy a new lawn? Now's the perfect time | Brian Kidd

I am amazed how many of you want to improve your lawn. Nigel, of Emsworth, wants to treat bare patches and Mike, from Waterlooville, wants to know the best time to sow seed or if it’s better to buy turf. Let’s start with improving bare patches.

Measure the lawn and for every square yard you need to improve you need 2oz of best grass seed and 1lb of seed compost. Once you’ve done the sums, mix the grass seed and moist compost and leave in a black polythene sack for a week. In that time the seeds will chit (start to shoot).

Water the lawn and then, with a digging fork, make holes an inch deep by pushing the prongs of the fork into the lawn. It’s hard work so do a little bit at a time otherwise you will have pains in places you never thought you had. You need 12 little holes to each square foot of lawn to be treated.

Scatter the compost and seed mix over the lawn and water. The grass seeds fall into the fork holes. Keep the surface moist and the lawn will be transformed in a month. Now, to Mike.

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The best time to sow a lawn from seed is now, early September. The trick is to keep raking the soil’s surface so weed seedlings are destroyed. Rake every week to get a good tilth on to which the seed is scattered, 2oz per square yard. Choose a mixture which has the new perennial grass varieties (Suttons Seeds has a great selection). The alternative is turf.

A few days before laying it, apply fish, blood and bone fertiliser at 2oz a square yard. Rake into the soil’s surface. For an instant lawn use turf but instead of asking the supplier to deliver instantly, give them a chance because the weather has been so dry. Give the grower about three weeks’ notice before you want the turf. If you do want some straight away try B&Q which has excellent turf grown on rolls which is easy to lay.

Best advice? Get some wide scaffolding planks, it’s what bowling green keepers use. Lay a strip of turf, put a plank on top of the first strip, walk on the plank all the time. Cut a turf in half and lay the next strip of turf. This ensures you have the best possible surface as the turfs ‘knit’ much better.

Keep the grass watered to stop shrinkage which can occur in hot weather. If you find the turfs have shrunk, fill the edges with John Innes seed compost. Don’t use garden soil because weeds will be introduced to your perfect new lawn.

Don’t walk on freshly laid turf; stick to the plank. Always mow grass before it needs cutting and mow in a different direction each time you mow.

• Brian’s list of jobs for the week ahead

I judged the Best Blooming Garden a few years ago and saw some amazing lawns. There were three with artificial grass which looked wonderful. It’s a marvellous idea where the lawn is constantly under attack from feet! If you do go artificial, do your research because ground preparation takes a long time and costs a lot.

THIS WEEK’S TOP TIP

Daffodil bulbs can be planted at any time between now and the end of November, five inches deep for best results. Buy a few each week and avoid cheap ‘mixed’. Buy a few named varieties Consider drifts rather than straight lines.