The way you go about turf laying can have a big effect on how well your lawn beds in, develops its own root structure and ultimately grows more green grass.
Although the basics of laying turf are quite simple, there are also plenty of things you can do to get a better outcome when laying rolls of turf. We’ll cover the most important points in this guide on how to lay a lawn.
Find out exactly how many rolls of turf you need using our handy Lawn Area Calculators on how to measure up
You might be thinking ‘what tools do I need for laying turf?’. There are many tools and materials that can help when laying new turf. You won’t need them all but it might be helpful to have any of the following available:
We offer express delivery to get turf from our fields to your front door in 24 hours.
It's best best to be ready to lay your new turf immediately upon delivery so it can get the water and light it needs to keep it strong and stop it scorching and turning yellow.
A rotovator is a good way to prepare the ground for laying turf, as it will dig up and aerate a good few inches of soil. For smaller areas you can do this manually using a garden fork, but this very quickly becomes hard work over larger areas.
You should incorporate some good general fertiliser and/or well rotted compost into the top layer of soil. Don’t use compost that is only partially rotted down, as this could lead to your lawn ‘sagging’ as the remaining organic matter rots away.
Sandy soil can be added to improve drainage, while manure improves water retention, so work with the natural soil you already have and add what is needed to make it as turf-friendly as possible.
This is the easy part – just unroll it into place and gently tamp it down on to its soil bed. Make sure neighbouring rolls of turf are butted up well against each other and if you must join rolls, stagger the joints like brickwork.
If your prepared soil surface isn't quite perfect you can raise the soil level if needed in certain areas, so that your turf is all at the same level using handfuls of soil. However with our turf you should find rolls are all cut to the same depth so this should not be necessary.
At the edges of your lawn, try to avoid using any really small sections of turf. If possible, adjust the outline of your lawn very slightly so you don’t have to do this, as larger segments will typically bed in faster and start to make new green growth sooner.
While working you might want to lay planks or boards across the turf you have already laid. This helps to spread your weight so if you can’t avoid stepping on the turf, the pressure is not all concentrated into a single footprint.
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You’re not done just yet! Go over your new turf lawn with a sprinkle of compost or soil mixed with sand, and gently rake or brush this into any slight gaps in the joins between rolls. By doing this, you help neighbouring rolls of turf to knit together and encourage the new grass growth to fill in those seams, giving you a consistent lawn surface as soon as possible.
Neaten off any rough edges using a half-moon turf cutter or some careful work with a sharp-edged shovel, and you should have a tidy, flat lawn all neatly laid and ready to start putting down some roots of its own.
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