can I lay turf in oct or nov?

Hi

It depends on which part of the country you live in, availability of turf (ask suppliers), your soil type and the weather (for the suppliers to lift the turf and for you to prepare the ground and lay the turf).

As long as the current mild weather continues, the soil will be warm and the grass will keep growing and will put down its roots to become established. Is grass still growing where you live? Once the night temperatures start dropping below around 7 degrees C consistently, it usually slows down quite a bit so we needn't mow any more - slow growth isn't a big problem when turfing as it's best not to mow it too soon anyway to give it a chance to establish.

There's more on creating lawns in this part of the website: http://www.gardeningmasterclass.co.uk/g00292.html (cut and paste this into your browser)

can you lay new turf directly on top of an existing scruffy lawn and would it be beneficial sprinkling fertiliser/bonemeal before hand

Hi Paul

No, sorry, you'd be wasting your time and the cost of the new turf.

You have to prepare the surface to maximise root growth of the new turf. It probably will root down into the surface of an old scruffy lawn, but will also probably become a new scruffy lawn as it will inherit the reasons behind the original scruffiness! ie poor drainage or poor water retention, compaction, poor initial preparation.

I've re-written some of this page to make the fertiliser section clearer.

Hi just in the middle of my garden "project" lol in my new 1st house , my garden is about 30ft x 30ft ,half is grass other is soil with weeds & flowers that have not been looked after very well i have took out a Rhododendron bush which i will never be attempting again lol and 2 trees . . . . but just wondering does anything have to be done to the ground before i lay the turf?, i imagine it will have allsorts of bulbs, roots, weeds under the soil so i have attempted abit of a rake & cleared the area a little but still think something needs doing to it first as i want to have the rest of the garden grassed as my little boy turns 12 months old next month so he will be mooching about in the garden very soon . . . . sorry its long winded,
Thanks,
James

Hi James

I've re-written some of this page which deals with neglected areas with weeds. I hope this helps.

Alec

HI,
I moved into my new house about 6 monthes ago and the back garden (56ft across 30ft back)was well over grown ive stripped everything off the top and did'nt look too bad but when i came to turn the soil over its full of glass, tiles, old black rubbish bags, clothes and even a kitchen sink. the last person that lived here was here for about 30 years. please could you give me some info
thanks Ian. BIRMINGHAM

Hi Ian

You've got a job there haven't you?
You'll have to remove anything that would stop drainage (plastic bags etc) and anything near enough to the surface to damage digging equipment (or yourself when digging). Also anything that might rot down and cause the level to sink later.
You need to read our advice on 'How to landscape a new site from scratch' - go back to the 'How to' main page and find the link there.

Hope it all helps.

Hi

You mentioned earlier that you can't lay a new lawn over an existing one. We have a garden that is about 2/3 lawn and 1/3 bindweed and assorted nasty looking shrubs. We have begun to cut these back and plan to lay some turf there. However, will it look odd if we lay new turf next to old? And if so, what do we do with the existing lawn - do we just rotivate it, or do we need to dig it up? (The existing lawn is in fairly good condition during 'normal' British weather although parches fairly quickly)

Lauren

Hi Lauren

The new turf may or may not match your existing lawn - for the best match you need to identify the grasses you already have and choose turf that contains the same mix of grass types. But the difference is often most marked in the first season as the new turf will have been fed and nurtured so often looks much greener. After the new turf has exhausted these nutrients, it will not be so bright. You could feed your old lawn to make it a deeper green to match in the first year. It all depends on how important it is to you to have a match.

It's certainly easier to live with the mismatch than dig up your old lawn - you would have to skim off the turf before cultivating the soil. If you rotavate the old lawn into the ground, the buried bits of turf will rot down and reduce in size so your new lawn's surface would become uneven, with dips and bumps that would be difficult to mow unless you set the blades to a high cut.

Hi

I'm in the process of replacing our lawn with new turf. I've taken old turf off and rotivated plot, picking up any rubble and big stones. There still seems to be loads of stones in the earth, do I need to remove all stones or just ones of a certain size?

Also, any tips on levelling the plot prior to turfing?

Many thanks.

You'll have to rake off the surface stones to create a level surface before treading and turfing. Any really big stones won't retain moisture so you'd need to remove these otherwise you might get dry areas under the turf roots during a drought.

A lot of large stones would make it difficult to spike the lawn in the future, if you were intending on such advanced turf care!

Tips on levelling? A rake, time, patience, elbow grease and a good eye. Don't do it in wet weather either.

Have fun...

My front yard has a base rock drive way going across it I have loosend up the rock and plan to add top soil before planting grass. Top soil will be about 2 to 3 inches deep can I plant grass over base rock or do I need to remove it first

Hi Larry

Well, not really sure what a base rock drive is. Can you enlighten us? Being British gardeners, we're not familiar with U.S. gardening conditions - we're assuming you're in the U.S.A?

Hi. I have rotavated, weeded, left for a year
my back garden as advised. Then re dug and put down top soil. Raked and rollered till level. Spread eight boxes of seed after watering ground, sifted a light compost over and regularly watered. This was over a week ago and instead of looking out at a lush green lawn I am met by soil and seed staring back at me. I have been advised now that rollering the ground was wrong. What can I do now to get these seeds to grow. Miffed and fed up. Please help as I have not a sprout to show for my aching back! Thanks

Hello, We have an area about 50 sq meters which had a lawn in the middle of about 40 sq meters and a gravel path around the edge which covered about 10 sq meters. We've got rid of all the gravel which was about 6" deeper than the lawn and the current lawn is very uneven and patchy, so my question is - rather than buy bag after bag of topsoil to fill in the defecit and make the lawn even, can I get a truf lifter and take off the existing turf and turn it upside down and lay it where the gravel was to try and fill the 6" defecit to make it more even before we lay new tuft over the whole area, or will that just rot down and make the lawn uneven again? Any suggestion would be very helpful. Thanks

Give it time! Grass seed germinates 10 days after sowing at the earliest, assuming the ground was moist enough for it to absorb any water from day 1.

Just noticed your posting date - so has it germinated yet?

Rolling isn't necessary but it doesn't mean you've ruined the soil - depends how heavy the roller was...

Hi Jenny
Just seen your question so a bit late with the answer, which is no, don't use turves to try to even up the dips. As you say the old grass and roots will eventually rot and cause uneveness so you need to fill in the dips with soil or sand, well compacted.

hi weve be doing our garden for a while, we have come to do the lawn area and are stuck what to do. can we rotivate the exsting lawn into the soil and lay new turf on top
many thanks

Hi
No, sorry, a bad idea. As we said in the article above, burying organic matter (such as an old lawn) will cause problems later because it will rot down and create dips.

was asked to do sum1s dig and level up the garden then plant grass on it, aint go a clue, can ye help?

Hi Graeme

Look at our home page, find the menu item 'How to', click on it, and choose 'How to ... Landscape a new site from scratch'.

Should give you some idea!

Good luck.