New lawn + hosepipe ban = HELP!!

Hi All

Thanks for all the replies.

Luckily we have had some rain the last couple of days. The few days before that I have been using 140 litres of grey water each night applied with a hand spray, which takes about 20 min to get through using the pump I have. So far it's looking OK. What I will do is top up any areas that are looking worse for wear with buckets etc if necessary. But for now it all looks nicely moist thanks to the not too hot weather.

Kristen - your advice seems to be a concise summary of everything i have read, however I realise there is plenty of variation out there, no doubt to to different areas/climates/experience etc. One thing that tells me though is turf must be pretty tough and can thrive with any method, as long as it gets something it should survive. I suppose the question is how deep the roots end up and how tollerant it will be to future weather conditions.

I did wonder about rolling it - would help even it out a little too. Unfortunately I have a hover style mower!

 

Beg a favour from neighbours?

 

Result... I complained to south east water and they have now allowed the concession for anyone who laid new turf on their advice that has now changed.

 

Get it in writing if you can - just in case!

 

will be good to see which of your neighbours 'grass' you

was in a garden in Cambridge today and was using the hose to water the beds (new plants were planted 2 weeks ago)

a lady walked past with her dog and said:

'You should'nt be watering - there's a hosepipe ban'

I replied: 'Noooo speeek engleeesh'

not sure if she got on the phone to the council or whoever, but we don't have a hospepipe ban in Cambridge (yet) ...

was on the tv news and many people were misinformed

 

It was on the news today that Peterborough is now officially a desert. Apparently it goes by the total rainfall over a given period, and Peterborough is below the threshold so is a desert now

Peterborough is in Cambridgeshire isn't it? (I could be mistaken and am too lazy to look for a map ).

 

you need to check with which water company you fall under ... most of Cambridge is Cambridge water .... some other areas are East Anglian water (they have a hosepipe ban)

 

I thought it was less than 10 inches of rain a year, but it probably varies depending on what newspaper you read.
They even call Dungness in Kent a desert, but its just because its shingle and well drained.

I think if Peterborough was actully a desert we would have seen pictures of it by now, blowing away in the wind, and tumbleweed in the streets.

 

That's a helluva bunker!

 

I did, this was via email.

Sprinkler is on its way again tonight. Will give it a good drench every 2 days now.

A question though, I have a couple of patches where it doesn't seem to be taking. Should I get some lawn repair type stuff now and put it down on these bits while I know its now getting a good watering? Could I use it all over to help thicken it up too? Or am I being a bit impatient?

Also I have some bald patches - some round spots no bigger than the palm of my hand where there is no grass at all just soil. I don't remember seeing these before. I wasn't sure if its where i have stood on the turf here and there to lay the sprinkler around as they are dotted about, and some how killed it off. But I don't remember seeing brown spots before hand either. Its as if someone shaved the grass off with a razor!

 

You'll need to ease-up during the 28 days, rather than just "stop" on day 28 (as the grass won't be acclimatised to "no water"!).

I suggest that if the weather is not hot you delay the next drench. Maybe make a timetable so you are down to every 4 days by the end of 28 days. I think you will still have to water throughout the first Summer, but only if there is no rain for a while and/or the weather is very hot, and just chucking some buckets over it will do at that point, so if you have to do it by hand that won't be as "delicate" an operation as at the newly-laid stage.

I wouldn't fiddle about with any fixes, as such. Make sure the turf is in good contact with the ground underneath. A plank on the effected bits, walk on it to apply gentle pressure, move the plank one-width to one side, walk on it again (assuming you aren't a circus performer then this is more easily done with TWO planks! one that you are standing on, the other that you are moving)

It could also be shrinkage around the joints, so if that is where the problem is then IMHO it wasn't properly laid (some slack should be allowed by pushing the turves together when laid so that as they shrink that "slack" is used up, rather than the joints opening up).

I think responsibility for this is with the people who laid it, ask them?

I don't think it is you walking on the lawn. Whilst you want to try to avoid walking on newly laid turf, I've always walked on my new turf to move the sprinkler etc. I have always walked on it "gingerly" though, and spinning on your heels would be a bad idea!, but assuming all of that I'm not sure of the cause. Its not a female dog having a pee there is it? That is inclined to kill grass, usually it would make a circle of grass go yellow, but with new turf it might miss that step and go straight to "bare" instead. (If that's the problem chuck a bucket of water wherever the dog pees immediately afterwards, and train her to use a different area of the garden)