Laying new turf

Is it too late to lay rolls of turf ? And if I plant bulbs first would they be able to push up through the turf or would I need to make holes for them to grow through? Thanks

 

Ground needs to be prepared for turf - which involves digging it (or rotavating) which will most likely dig up the bulbs too ...

Once that is done thought the bulbs can be planted and they will hapily come through the turf by themselves

Now is a good time to sow a lawn, from seed, so that would be a (much cheaper) alternative to turf. Soil preparation is the same for turf or seed, but you will need to avoid walking on turf for, say, a month and seed sown for probably 2 months. (You can put a board down to get across the lawn, but if you have kids / pets that need to run about on it Turf will be quicker)

Another advantage of Seed is that it lets you choose the "mix" - so anything from bowling green to hard wearing football pitch! plus you can do bits of it with "shady mix" if any areas are under a tree etc.

 

I was thinking of spring bulbs like daffodils, crocuses, bluebells. The area I was considering turfing is ' the bank ' , which is mentioned in a previous thread as being one of my very bad ideas that seemed liked a good idea at the time. Twice I have weeded out the bank - took my hours and hours and put me in a very bad frame of mind - and ( predictably ) because I don't have the time to concentrate on just doing one thing at a time the weeds are now several feet high again. My original idea was to lay gravel and add rockery stones, driftwood, slate, etc with a few plants like lavender, scabious and hydrangeas at the back of the bank. That didn't happen - why did I think it ever would. So now I'm thinking that I should just pay someone to weed it for me and then plant the bulbs and lay turf over the top???

I thought turf would be easiest compared to sowing a lawn from seed and given the fact that I've lost all motivation where gardening is concerned. I wish I could afford to pay someone to do it all for me.

 

Does that strictly apply to Spanish bluebells?

 

How about just spray the bank with a selective lawn weedkiller. Then just cut the resulting "long grass" when you can be bothered - a couple of times a year would do. Only spray the weedkiller when the bulbs have died down - I would suggest:

Bulbs die down
Strim and rake away the grass
Wait a few weeks until the grass (and weeds) have recovered and started to grow
Spray with selective weedkiller

If you like over-seed the area with grass seed in the Autumn (now onwards, but future years too). If the grass is a bit "thin", when the weeds are killed off, that will help.

I wouldn't bother with turf or seed, way too much work on a bank if it is already somewhat under control, but just infested with weeds.

 

Being invasive? English Bluebells are invasive too, but the Spanish ones cross hybridise with the English and wipe the English out. I think English more attractive and have scent too ... but the Spanish is very robust, so I suppose that can be an advantage in less suitable sites.

 

Kristen, there's no grass on the bank its all weeds, dozens and dozens of then, some 3 foot high, I can't see the soil anymore. As I said before I weeded it all out and got as far as planting a Hydrangea and 3 Coreopsis, a Scabious and 3 Lavenders. All have now disappeared beneath the weeds. Oh and I did try spraying then with weedkiller..... it didn't work, the weeds continue to reign supreme, confident in their ability to resist my attempts to eradicate them. I used the whole 5 litre container. Can't remember the name but it said it kills right down to the roots and starts working within 24 hours .... yeah.

 

Maybe the Bluebells will stop the weeds growing and they will look prettier.

 

Even glyphosate doesn't kill Bluebells, Spanish or English! I hate the darned things and they are self seeding in my garden from elsewhere. The only way to get rid of them is to dig them up, easier said than done when they are in the lawn!

 

Well, another route would be to cover the area with woven mulching fabric - you'd have to chop down the weeds, then fit the weed suppressing membrane around those bushes (and maybe plant some more, through it). The membrane would, mostly, keep the weeds down; you could cover it with bark so that it looks nice (I suspect gravel would slide down the bank).