Turfing a lawn FAQ
First time laying turf? Read the first of our beginner’s guides to lawn laying to answer your queries!
What is turf and how does it arrive?
Our turf is rolls of luscious, weed-free grass ready-cultivated on the best, most suitable soil. It is then cut & rolled on the day before delivery. Turfgrowers cuts all our turf especially to each customer’s order so you can be certain it’s fresh and healthy when it reaches you. The purpose of turf is to quickly& painlessly establish a beautiful, pristine & vibrant lawn without the need for a lengthy seeding process that can leave your lawn bare & unusable for months, and can produce unsatisfying or inconsistent results. Turf provided by Turfgrowers is carefully selected as high quality, fine-bladed grass well established on firm, fertile soil.
Your rolls of turf will arrive on our overnight delivery service, delivered by pallet. Our lorries use a hydraulic lift to unload the turf at your garden ready for unpacking. Once unpacked it should be placed in the dry and laid immediately to minimise decomposition.
For more information on the process of lawn laying, see our page How to Lay a Lawn
What should I do with my old turf?
Before you can lay a new lawn you need to prepare the ground for new turf. This is covered in our How to Lay a Lawn page, however it’s very important to note that the process of preparing ground for a new lawn takes time and care, and will take too long to complete if you have your new turf sitting in the driveway when you begin. Ensure the ground is thoroughly ready for your new turf BEFORE placing your order. This will leave you with lots of old turf to dispose of. A turf cutter will remove old turf neatly and quickly, while a spade and/or turf lifting iron can be more suited to smaller areas. Either way, the rotting turf you want rid of will need moving as soon as possible. If you’re a keen gardener you could compost your turf to produce loam, a valuable compost material with a great nutritional profile for your plants. There are lots of interesting articles & opinions online on the best way to compost your turf, however you should bear in mind that the turf will need to be upside down and covered, to prevent the grass from continuing to grow, and to keep heat & moisture trapped inside. Some gardeners recommend sandwiching other material between layers of turf. Nonetheless, this will take at least 12-24 months to compost properly. It is always worth considering ways to reuse & recycle garden waste, and with enough turf you could end up with high-quality compost worth hundreds of pounds, however if this is a bit long-term for you, or you don’t have the space for this, you could always try and find someone willing to take it off your hands- the internet is a great resource for locating local gardening enthusiasts who might be able to collect it from you for free, or may even pay you for it.
What should I do with my newly laid turf?
After laying, a lawn needs a lot of care. For a few weeks it will need as much attention as if you had planted it seed by seed- however after this period you will have a perfect, ornamental lawn, instead of a muddy patch strewn with seeds.
A lot of the initial work on a newly laid lawn will depend on the weather, and the state of the soil. Your main goal in your turf aftercare is to encourage the growth of new roots from the turf- this will establish the new grass in the soil and ensure continued survival & growth. In order for roots to grow the soil will need to be full of moisture and free from debris. If the weather is too hot you may need to water your new lawn weekly, or even every five days.
Avoid walking on your new lawn for several weeks, until you are certain the roots are firmly established. You can check for root growth under newly laid turf by using a sharp knife to prise up a corner of lawn. Check for small pale shoots appearing through.