Laying new turf

treecol

Been watching lots of Youtube bout how to lay new turf. Just about to do an area in the back garden.
Anyone know why no-one suggests rollering the ground before laying the turf? We've got a roller & to me it's makes sence to get a nice even surface with the roller then gently rake the surface again lightly before laying.
However as no-one seems to do it, there must be a reason why not.

d0nkeyk0ng

Rolling the lawn doesn't flatten it. It merely hardens the surface and compresses it you'll still have a bumpy and uneven lawn.

glasgowdan

It takes a lot of work to get the ground even. A roller doesn't do that sadly. You need to do the penguin shuffle using your heels to press down all the soft areas, then rake the top inch again to fill the hollows, then repeat a couple of times. If you just roller it the soft areas will still be soft and will compact over a while, leaving a really uneven lawn.

treecol

Makes sense, many thanks. Ministry of silly walks shall prevail.......

Grenage

I would argue that a roller isn't suitable; sure it doesn't make ground even, but it's not designed to do so. You use the roller to compact the ground, and then rake to level it out (before compacting again, and again).

diamond_dave

Don't forget the golden rule when laying turf: Green side up!!

bmthmark

I have recently laid new turf in my garden (first time i've done this).
Preparation is the key, spend lots of time pulling up weeds and making the surface perfect. Get rid of any large stones and keep raking it.
I would also advise leaving the soil for a week or 2 to see what weeds you have missed.
I then sprinkled chicken manure pellets over the soil and left them for a few days. Not sure if this was really necessary but read something online.

Laying the actual turf is the easy bit, just roll it out in like a brick pattern. Don't stand on the turf, use planks of wood.
Then finally water the fresh turf loads, every evening for a couple of weeks. I also sprinkled seeds where the turf lines link up.
After a couple of weeks you should be able to walk on it.

I did the above and my turf looks really good now.

rosie383

OP can I ask where you got your turf from? Nowhere local seems to be doing any at this time of year and the online places only do large amounts. We only need about 5m square where it got destroyed by building work.

xyz123

As said, if possible leave prepared area for 2/3 weeks. Not only u get chance to see new weeds, if u water it or it rains it will also allow soil to naturally settle down. This will give u a chance to even the soil again just before putting down turf.