Needless to say, in most gardens, an acceptable lawn can be created and easily kept in good condition.

Belsize Landscapes have years of experience of the various urban garden problems and have developed their own techniques on the handling of them.

Robert Sergent Fairley has commented that drainage is always the main factor (or lack of drainage). He has further pointed out that the installation of land drains is an expensive operation and only possible in a few gardens. As an alternative, his team ‘opens up the ground’ and increases the general drainage by heavy rotovation and the addition of enormous quantities of gritty sand and special compost.

Their first task is to remove (by hand forking) any perennial weeds. The existing lawn area is then thoroughly rotovated until a fine tilth has been created. Huge quantities (by the ton loads) are then added of coarse sharp sand and well rotted organic matter. The whole is again rotovated and then levelled with the addition of tons of a superfine sandy, rich soil. The air pockets are then compressed out of the ground (by the whole Belsize team tramping heavily in different directions across the area). A new levelling is then organised to produce a smooth ‘billiard table’ effect.

The final stage is the laying of the turf. Belsize Landscapes lay an all purpose Q Lawns cultivated turf, which they have found, over the years, to be the best all purpose, hardwearing turf suitable for most gardens.