Is all turf equal

First time poster.

I'm looking to lay a lawn in my north facing garden, about 10m x 3m

I had a look at a turf "merchant" at the weekend and they had various types. Do I need this "specialist" turf or can I just pick some up from B&Q

Thanks

 

Hi staffbrooks !
When you go to B&Q (I've never heard about it since I am not british) don't you see lots of items on the store-shelf ?
If I were on your shoes, I would read what is written on each item.
For example which kind of grass it is.
Then I will ask which kind of grass fit which climatic condition.
For example there are grass fitting sunshine exposed lawn.
Other kind of grass fitting shadowed lawn.
There are grass for mediterranean climates.
There are grass for cool rainy weather conditions, etc.
Festuca, for example, is a kind of grass that adapt to sunshine exposed mediterranean lawn.
But if your lawn is located in Britain and is not exposed to sunshine, then you should better to choose a different kind of grass.
For example, Ryegrass (Lolium) or others.
You can see more on this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawn

The last "step" is asking for a turf of the "X" kind of grass.
For example, asking for a turf of "Lollium"...
In any case, a turf of the kind of grass that well adapt to the climatic conditions of your lawn.
You could ask someone to guggest you which kind of grass are ideal for the climatic condition of your lawn (talking about sun exposure and geographic location).

 

Hi Staffbrooks and welcome to the forum.
I'll try to do a short answer to your question.
You only need a specialist turf if you want it for a specialist purpose.
Otherwise "general purpose" stuff will do if you just want grass.

Specialist turf could be any of the following

Extremely hard wearing because the general public, dogs or children are going to run about on it all day

Very fine with no coarse grasses in the mixture because you want a nice stripey lawn and not just grass.

The turf merchant will specify what he thinks the special properties of the turf are but if you just want grass then general purpose from B & Q or wherever will be fine.

 

B & Q turf is good - even if it is yellowing! Just keep it well watered and don't trample on it till it gets growing again.

 

Do you need turf? This time of the year you could sow a lawn from seed, and by the Spring it will be looking good.

Is your North facing garden in permanent shade a lot, or does the sun get to it during the day (not too worried about the Winter, but if it gets only an hour or so of direct sun this time of the year then I would call that "shady"). If that's the case then I would choose a shade-tolerant grass variety otherwise it won't look very smart in the summer with a reasonable amount of traffic, and that is likely to lead to weeds being able to compete.

I've only ever seen one type of turf at Garden Centres near here (although they do tend to have several types of grass seed) ... so your specialist turf provider may be a better bet - if nothing else for the better advice they can give you.

 

Thanks for the replies.

Think I'll go back to the turf supplier as a first step