- Laying turf: advantages of lawn seeding
- Buying turf: costs and requirements
- Laying turf: step-by-step instructions
- The right turf care
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Rolled lawn is the convenient alternative to lawn seeding. We take a closer look at laying turf and everything that goes with it.
Laying turf is the quickest way to achieve a beautiful lawn with a dense turf. Many hobby gardeners imagine it like this: Just roll it out and you're done! Unfortunately, it's not that easy after all. The strenuous soil preparation has to be carried out before laying the turf just as much as before sowing the lawn.
Laying turf: advantages of lawn seeding
Laying turf is tempting in many ways. Within a day, a brown patch of earth turns into a soft green carpet of grass with a beautiful, dense turf. After only two to three weeks, the lawn is firmly rooted in the ground and can then be used in moderation. The time that you save before the load compared to the lawn seed is ultimately up to three months. Another advantage of the turf is its quality. High-quality rolled turf is free of weeds, the density of the grass is ideal and there are no damaged areas. In addition, rolled turf is less sensitive to drought than lawn seed and can therefore be laid more flexibly at the right time.
Buying turf: costs and requirements
Rolled turf, also known as ready-made turf, is sown on special, often sandy to slightly loamy areas and ideally cared for for a year. In most cases, the high-quality seed mixtures that are sown in the optimum density and properly supplied with water and nutrients result in a dense, weed-free turf on the lawn. After about a year, the lawn is peeled off about one and a half to two centimeters below the surface of the soil with a special device, so that a large part of the root thatch remains. Usually, thin strips about 50 cm wide and one and a half to two and a half meters long are rolled up like a carpet. For corners, curves and other uneven surfaces, theCut the pieces of turf well.
Prices for turf and laying
Of course, the advantages of rolled turf also have their price. The offer and the differences in quality are large and the prices are correspondingly varied. The price usually decreases as the number of square meters increases and is around 10 euros per square meter. Many turf producers offer to collect the rolled up turf themselves. This makes the purchase a bit cheaper and is also possible for small areas with a spacious vehicle. For larger areas, however, do not forget that the rolls take up a lot of space and that the soil, which is in a root felt that is up to two centimeters thick, also brings a considerable weight. With up to 20 kg for 1 m2 turf, picking it up yourself is no longer necessarily relaxed from a certain amount.
Selecting the right turf
Since the composition of the seed is particularly important for a long-term beautiful and resilient lawn, it is worth asking about the precise combination of grasses. High proportions of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) and meadow meadow grass (Poa pratensis) indicate a good composition for hard-wearing play and utility lawns. Fine-leaved species such as bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) and bentgrass (Agrostis capillaris), on the other hand, are better known for their special ornamental value. The Lägerrispe (Poa supina) is typical for rolled turf, which is specially designated for shaded areas. Find the grasses Lolium westerwoldicum, Lolium multiflorum and Festuca pratensis in the grass composition of a rolled turf, then leave you better steer clear of this product. These three cheap grass varieties that are not suitable for garden use but for agriculture suggest poor quality.
Make sure it is in perfect condition
The rolled up pieces of grass are living grass that can dry out or even rot. In order to prevent this, the rolled lawn is happy if it comes into contact with the ground again as quickly as possible (at best within 36 hours, at worst after 48 hours) - i.e. if it is laid. Lawn manufacturers who pay attention to particularly high quality therefore cut and roll the lawn to order. Should it not be possible for some reasonbe able to lay the turf after 36 hours, especially in dry weather, the turf can be saved by unrolling it in a shady place and gently moistening it.
Laying turf: step-by-step instructions
1. Choose time
In principle, rolled turf can always be laid - with the exception of periods of frost. Depending on the temperature and precipitation conditions, however, the conditions for the growth of the rolled turf roots vary. Temperatures between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius and sufficient moisture are optimal for the roots to grow together with the soil. The better the conditions for root growth, the quicker the lawn can take a beating. As with sowing the lawn, the best time to lay turf is early autumn or early spring. Do not buy or till the lawn until you have completed all ground preparation. Because the turf doesn't like lying around for long… Within the 36-hour storage period, the turf felt most comfortable in the shade.
2. Preparing the ground for laying turf
Preparing the soil before laying sod is the same as before seeding the lawn. They include digging or milling the soil at least a few months before laying, leveling the area, drainage for very heavy soils, and adding sand to clayey soils and compost to sandy soils. The pH should also be tested. Lime is worked into soil that is too acidic, and peat or bark humus (not to be confused with bark mulch) is used in soil with a pH value of more than 7. Immediately before laying the turf, the ground is leveled and lightly roughened with a rake. This improves the anchoring of the turf roots in the garden soil.
Important: Rolled turf is never laid over an existing lawn.
3. Choosing the right turf
Before choosing the lawn, measure your future lawn as precisely as possible. Compare offers from the Internet and from your region. Local manufacturers usually have more favorable delivery conditions and the shorter transport route means that the sods are often fresher. Pay attention to the composition of the grass in the turf. In the case of play and utility lawns, the rolled turf should largely be made of GermanRyegrass (Lolium perenne) and Kentucky meadow grass (Poa pratensis). When purchasing rolled turf for decorative purposes or for shady areas, other grasses are better suited.
4. Laying turf
If you didn't buy the turf with a laying service, you have to unroll it yourself. You start laying the first row at an edge that is as long and straight as possible. You roll out the lawn forwards, which means you don't step onto the prepared ground area, but onto the lawn that has already been rolled out.
Tip: It is best to work with running boards (approx. 25 x 35 cm). As a result, you do not step on individual pieces of grass in a compressed manner and at the same time improve the ground contact of the sods that have already been laid.
The adjacent rows are tightly connected to the existing ones so that there are no gaps or overlaps. It is normal for most connection points to remain slightly visible. Slightly sprinkling these small joints with washed quartz sand (0.06 - 2 mm grain size) can help to ensure that the connection points of the rolls are better overgrown. Finally, the turf is crossed over again with the running boards, perpendicular to the laying direction, in order to bring the rolled turf roots closer to the ground and to improve the growth.
5. Proper care for laid turf
Freshly laid turf must not dry out until its roots have firmly anchored themselves in the ground and they can absorb water from the ground themselves. If you water regularly in the first 14 days after laying, the lawn usually grows very quickly. We recommend watering for up to eight weeks after laying, especially in dry weather, so that the lawn never dries out completely and all the work is really worth it.
The right turf care
Anyone who has decided to lay rolled turf usually has a high quality lawn and, with the right care, meets the requirements for growing weed-free, he althy and beautiful for a long time. In order not to regret the expensive purchase after a few years, you should now take good care of your lawn.
Fertilize turf
Fertilizer is the lawn's food and growth engine. Depending on how nutrient-rich your soil is and whether you mow or mulch, the amount of fertilizer to be applied changes. More tips on fertilizing yourlawns, you can get them in our special article. In principle, it is advisable to fertilize the lawn once in the spring (e.g. in February with compost or in May with a nitrogen-based fertilizer such as horn shavings) and once in the autumn with a potassium-based autumn fertilizer such as our Plantura Organic Autumn Lawn Fertilizer. We recommend that you do a soil test every three years to ensure the soil and lawn are optimally supplied with nutrients.
Watering the turf
Grown rolled turf does not differ from ordinary lawns when it comes to care. In summer it is important that the soil does not dry out completely. That is why the lawn is watered in the morning or evening in summer if it has not rained for several weeks and there is no prospect of rain. Always look at the ground and the grass. Dry soil and yellowish, slightly dried grasses are a sign of a lack of water. In addition, it must also be poured after fertilizing if no rain is expected. Because plants can only absorb nutrients with the help of water.
Mowing or mulching turf
After about 14 days the lawn can already be walked on and from a length of about eight cm it can be mowed down to about four to five cm for the first time. Incidentally, sharp blades are extremely important, especially when mowing for the first time. The fine blades of grass do not yet have a strong root system and a blunt blade can tear out the entire plant. Still not able to decide between mowing and mulching your lawn? In moderate latitudes with normal soil, mulching is recommended as an ecological mowing variant. However, if you have very heavy or sandy soil, your lawn is in the shade, or you live in a very rainy area, then classic lawn mowing may be a better alternative for you and your lawn.
Scarify, aerate and sand turf
The more complex care measures include scarifying, aerating and sanding the lawn. Moss and thatch are usually removed from the lawn in the spring with a special scarifying device. This is important so that enough air and water can reach the soil surface and the grass roots.
Aerating the lawn, just like sanding, is done after scarifying on heavy, poorly drained soils and ensures a betterventilation. Finally comes the lawn sanding. It improves the soil structure in the long term and contributes to the sustainability of scarifying and aerating. For example, our Plantura Premium lawn sand made of pure quartz sand with a fine grain size of 0.3 to 1 mm is excellently suited. After these measures or together with the sand, the lawn is then fertilized.