How to Lay Turf

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Luke Martin
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Preparing Your Ground

Preparing your ground correctly is essential for laying new turf and ensuring it thrives for years to come.

If you lay turf onto unsuitable ground, it won’t produce the best results, so ensuring that you have a solid, nutrient rich base for your new turf to root into will allow your turf to thrive.

If you have a pre-existing lawn, you should remove the grass by slicing beneath the turf with a spade and digging it up to expose the soil underneath. For larger areas, it may be best to hire landscapers or a purpose-built turf remover to get the job done to a high standard.

Once the soil is exposed, you should remove any weeds, stones or other debris from the area and rotavate the top 15cm of soil using a spade, garden fork or a powered cultivator.

Soil Quality

The key to healthy turf growth is making sure that the ground below has enough nutrients to keep the turf thriving. Your soil should be slightly moist, light and contain no large stones or debris. Small stones are fine and can actually help with drainage and aeration.

If your soil is dense and clay – like, you can mix in some good quality topsoil to create a new, looser mixture to allow the turf roots to penetrate the ground easily.

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A common misconception is that you should always fertilise your soil when preparing to lay turf. In truth, you should only fertilise your soil if it is nutrient deficient or if you’re laying in early spring / winter. Over-fertilising your ground in unsuitable temperatures can actually harm rather than help your turf by affecting your soil PH. If you do have to fertilise, then a balanced, slow release one is your best bet in ensuring a steady flow of all the right nutrients into your soil.

Once your soil is of good quality, you should rake the ground so that it is level and lightly tread or roll the ground so that it is firm.

Laying the Turf

As a perishable product, turf needs to be laid as soon as possible after it has been delivered, ideally within 24 hours.

If you leave turf rolled up overnight, it can overheat and damage the rolls so to get the best out of your fresh goods, you should get them laid as soon as possible.

As turf is a natural living plant, it’s important to treat it with care, especially during laying. You should use turfing boards or planks to work from when laying the turf. This will mean that you’re not walking on your new lawn and damaging / compressing the rooting systems before they’ve had a chance to establish.

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The actual act of laying turf is easier than people think – if your ground has been prepared as above, then all you need to do is unroll the individual rolls and lay them next to one another., Try to get the rolls as close to one another as possible, but do not overlap. Line up any edges and ends of the rolls against one another, being careful not to stretch the turf.

Any areas that may need trimming such as lawn curves or edges can be done with a sharp kitchen or utility knife.  Try not to use small offcuts along the edges as they’re more liable to dry out and not root in correctly, larger intact rolls are best used along the perimeter.Turf Aftercare

Watering

Water the area thoroughly after laying and align your watering schedule in accordance with your local climate. If laying in hotter temperatures, the turf will need watering in the morning and at night, when the sun is not directly overhead. This will help the ground below absorb the moisture before it is evaporated. In periods of heavy rainfall, you will not need to water as much.

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Our top tips for watering your lawn after you’ve laid your turf are as follows:

  • Water your new lawn well immediately after laying using a hose pipe for a thorough soaking or a sprinkler for minimal effort. Make sure the sprinkler is set to cover all areas of the lawn and that the ground bellow is sufficiently soaked.
  • In 1-2 weeks following, week to two weeks, water your lawn well twice a day minimum. The hotter, drier and windier the weather, the more water will be needed.
  • Water immediately and profusely on any sign of the turf drying out. Clear signs of dehydrated turf are roll shrinkage, gaps, lifting, browning or curling.
  • After a few weeks, the plant will root into the ground and knit together, giving you a fully formed lawn.

Mowing

After laying and leaving to root in, your turf should be ready for its first mow after around 2 weeks. For your first mow, you should set your blade setting to be high to avoid scalping / mowing the lawn too short.

This can cause bare and brown patches on the lawn and is one of the most common turfing mistakes. You can gradually recue your mower height over the next few mows and aim to mow to a consistent height of around 2-3 inches. To avoid scalping a good rule to follow is to only take 1/3 of the length off at any one time.

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Laying turf is always quicker and easier than people think and, if done with the right amount of care and preparation, means you get to enjoy a sturdy, beautiful lawn for years to come.

Author Bio

Chrissie Handley is a lawn care specialist working for Online Turf – a third-generation family-owned farm and e-commerce company with over a decade’s experience selling garden turf and providing tailored gardening knowledge.

With extensive expertise in laying turf, lawn maintenance and seasonal gardening advice, Chrissie is dedicated to helping gardening enthusiasts achieve lush, healthy lawns year-round.

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