New Lawn care

Hello,

My first post

I laid a new lawn about 10 days ago and it seems to be taking hold quite nicely.
I have been watering it day and night (Unless the rain has been heavy) and its lush green and growing.
So a couple of questions:
When should I first cut it?

also

How should I cut the edges, I have raised flower beds that the mower won't be able to get up to. Is a strimmer to harsh for a new lawn?

Many Thanks

 

I would give it about 1" of water every second day - leave it until the third day if there has been little heat in the Sun. You want to soak the ground under the turf, rather than watering the turf itself, so that the roots go down into the soil looking for water. If you water "continuously" they will get all the water they need at the surface, and won't bother to grow downwards. Leave it too long and it will all go yellow :(

Feeling how wet the soil is UNDER the turf is the best test. You will probably be able to stick your finger down between the turves as a test.

A wet Summer will help, of course! but it doesn't usually rain a whole inch.

You can stick a bowl on the lawn, somewhere in range of your sprinkler, to get an idea of how much water you are putting down.

When to Mow is a difficult question. If you wait too long it will be shaggy, and take a lot of effort to get it back short enough to be able to mow it easily. Too soon and you are likley to dislodge the turf as the roots won't have matted to the soil underneath.

Rolling the turf will help, if you have a roller handy. It gets the roots in contact with the soil udnerneath, and evens out any lumps and bumps.

Either way, make sure the mower is nice and sharp and cut off VERY little the first few times you mow it, and gradularly (over several weeks) reduce the height of the cut to what you want. I recommend you cut at least once a week once you have started, twice a week would be better. In my experience decent turf arrives so full of Nitrogen it grows like blue-blazes, and as thick as a thick thing!, and getting it back to the sort of lawn that ordinary mortal can manage takes a bit of time.

 

I haven't watered it for about 3 days now as we've had a lot of rain and the ground squelches (If thats how its spelt?) under foot.

yes its quite shaggy at the moment and very green, here's how its looking so far:

 

Yup, that's how I would expect new turf to look. Excellent! Trouble is, with all that Nitrogen, it will keep growing more shaggy, so the sooner you can get the first cut the better. I don't know when the recommended timing is - can you ask the people you got the turf from perhaps?

If its been raining the sun won't have been out, so you won't have lost water to evaporation / transpiration (much) so the grass will need less / no watering, so that's fine. Just be prepared when the sun comes back out again ... a period of unsetlled weather will get the turf established in double-quick time :thumb:

 

Well the weather forcast looks like rain until the weekend at least so it will nave been down 2 weeks then. So hopefully a fine cut next week!

Any help with the edges? is it a no-no to a strimmer for the edges? Sharpe shears maybe?

 

Your turf looks like its doing ok. I would advise not to walk on it while it is really squelchy, as this will make depressions in the finished surface, and undo the hard work of getting a flat/level surface to begin with.

I would say that your lawn will be showing roots. If you go to a corner or edge of the lawn, and see if a turf will lift up. It more than likely will, and you will be able to see tiny fresh white roots coming from the turf into the soil beneath. Ideally you need to wait until the turf has rooted into the soil, so a good tug is the test that I use, which I normally end up with a handful of grass than the turf lifting up. Timescale for this, upto six weeks, but that does depend on how hot/sunny/rainy it has been. The problem with mowing too early is the potential that the mower could suck up/distrub/damage the turf, which is not what you want. I would perhaps look at nearer 4 weeks before the first cut, but do the test, and see what you think.

Like Kristian says, when you do come to cut it start by taking the top off, and bring it down gradually. I have cut some new turf more than once on the first cut, to start the process of bringing the height down.
To use a strimmer, it is entirely up to how confident you feel. You don't want to scalp the turf, but you need to cut some grass off. I would feel comfy using a strimmer, but I've got experience. Edging shears would give the same effect, and perhaps less stress.

Hope this Helps!

 

that lawn looks great! , anyone got any advice regarding cutting, I really need to cut my new lawn as its getting a bit too long now, but it won't stop raining :cnfs:

 

I provided some suggestions above ... but I can't stop the rain I'm afraid. I have tried though ...

 

Hi, i have a green house/orangery
Planted up with bamboo , palms olive tree, grapevine and figs
Because my cat millie has the run of the place i have a small strip of turf 12ft X2ft covering the soil
this to stop the cat using it as a toilet
Can i use some other low cover plant to do the same job?