Turfing
A new lawn is mostly what happens before the turf arrives. Get the ground flat and firm and it knits in a fortnight. Skip that and you can see every bump in it for years.
Best timeSpring and autumn
I take the old lawn off, dig over what is underneath, pull out the roots and the stones, then level and firm it so the finished lawn sits where you want it against the path and the beds. The turf goes down in staggered rows, butted up tight, and gets a heavy first watering before I leave.
Turf is a living thing on a pallet and it does not keep. It wants laying within a day of arriving, so I have it delivered on the morning of the job rather than leaving it rolled up in the sun waiting for me.
Spring and autumn are the windows. The ground is warm, the weather is doing half the watering, and the lawn roots before it is asked to do anything. Turf laid in a dry July can work, but only if somebody waters it every single day.
Turfing, before and after
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Questions people ask
- When can I walk on it?
- Give it a fortnight. Step on it before that if you have to in order to water it, but otherwise keep off while the roots take hold. The first cut comes after that, on a high setting.
- How much watering does it actually need?
- A proper soaking every day it does not rain for the first two weeks, then less often as it roots in. Not a sprinkle. Lift a corner after watering and the soil underneath should be wet, not just the turf.
- Can you lay turf straight over the old lawn?
- No, it has to come off first. Laid over the top, the old grass rots underneath and the new lawn never roots into anything solid.
- What time of year is best?
- Spring or autumn. The ground is warm and the weather does most of the watering for you. High summer is the hardest time to get a new lawn through its first fortnight.