Secret of laying good turf

[no1special]

Been trying to find a local specialist to lay turf in an area of my garden, quite small, only 20ftx10ft and with a 5x4ft pond in the middle.
Outof the 3 that I have managed to contact, all of them say they cant do anything for 3 weeks due to being so busy...so could I do a good job myself?
I have laid turf once before at one of my investment properties, so I kinda rushed it.
Is it a case of laying top soil, getting it even, then laying the turf? Or is there a science to it, and I'd be foolish to attempt it.
If it makes a difference, there will be a few rail sleepers arunf one edge of the pond, and a waterfall on one corner.
Cheers

[eightseventhree]

From the 2 gardens i have done . .

Preperation

and then post watering are the key!

[no1special]

Cheers mate....
Someone in my office just mentioned that he has seen turf laid on a Sand base?
Have you heard of that?

[Dogwatch]

Wouldn't have thought the grass would like it as it can't get any nutrient from the sand. If you Google 'laying turf' there's masses of professional advice and some YouTube videos.

Would certainly agree that preparation and watering are probably the key 'secrets'.

[no1special]

Cheers Dogwatch, I'll give the googling a go.

[Busamav]

If you do not need to get on to it too quickly ,

have you thought about seeding it , that is the perfect size to do yourself , get a great lawn too.

[no1special]

Busamav said:

If you do not need to get on to it too quickly ,

have you thought about seeding it , that is the perfect size to do yourself , get a great lawn too.

tbh, hadnt even entered my mind.
How long would it take the lawn to grow from seeding?
So I guess I'd just need t lay the top soil. get it nice an even, then 'sprinkle' on the seeds?
Cheers

[Busamav]

It is over 20 years since I seeded a lawn so anything i said would be a guess , but it was a superb result.

Not a good idea if you have kids who would want to play in the garden soon.

[sawman]

have a look here: http://www.landscapejuice.com/2006/08/turf_laying....

prep is the key you need a nice even, surface of finely broken soil on the top, them you need to get the turf on fairly promptly

its very satisfying

[JustinP1]

no1special said:

Busamav said:

If you do not need to get on to it too quickly ,

have you thought about seeding it , that is the perfect size to do yourself , get a great lawn too.

tbh, hadnt even entered my mind.
How long would it take the lawn to grow from seeding?
So I guess I'd just need t lay the top soil. get it nice an even, then 'sprinkle' on the seeds?
Cheers

As I say on all of these threads, people get blinded by the idea of rolling out turf like a carpet fitter and the instant effect.

The long term is that to do it properly actually takes as long, or longer than the preparation for seeding, it takes more time, and costs more.

It just depends if you can be patient for a few weeks. I'd say you need about 2 months to get a lawn that you can cut like normal. That's how long it took the areas I seeded 2 months ago.

Improve the soil before you start with topsoil from the garden centre if it is just dust or dirt, flatten it out, then sow.

A key point is to get the right seed mix. If you have kids, a general purpose mix with ryegrass is tough and cheap. If you want an ornamental lawn there are thinner leaved varieties that will tolerate shorter cutting.

It is easy to do turf very wrong and get a disaster. It is a lot more difficult to do seed wrong. If the worst comes to the worst, the 20% of the seed you kept you just use that to overseed any patches.

[bigee]

In reply to the OP, yes its easy,prep is all in terms of how level/even you want finished lawn to be.But grass is pretty much the toughest plant there is,if you water it,it will grow! No mystery really,just choose a good hard wearing cultivated turf.