New Lawn

Hi All

Back in 2012, moved into a new property and after mowing the rear garden lawn, all I can say is that I was less than impressed at what I believed to be a laid lawn...

With deep ruts and whole garden totally uneven, when I spoke with the developer the excuses started coming " its the top soil we had to use before laying the grass... he might have thought I fell of the banana boat but some experience counts... whilst I don't boast to be a top notch gardener I now what's right... Anyway after a year of being here and many problems with the rear garden the surveyors came back and instructed the developers to put it right...

A few months went by and finally they came.. the old lawn was dug up the guys that came ended up adding over 3 ton of top soil... hummmmm who says I wasn't right.....lol....
Then came the day the turf was laid, now I was and still am somewhat sceptical at the quality of the turf laid.... inspected the turf whilst it was sat on the drive...seemed to be very dry, crusty on the earth side and the grass didn't look up to much... I wasn't paying for any of it, so I could hardly complain......

Anyway it was laid and for over 2 weeks we have stayed off the grass and watered it religiously twice a day, yesterday I finally fired up the trusted lawn mower to give the lawn the first high cut....was I impressed...yeh my machine works a treat...only issue I noticed is that the mower left track marks in the grass, ops didn't overlap my passes....I'll live and learn....

My question / what I need advice about is ..... now my lawn has had a first cut, is it worth overseeding to thicken up the lawn, or should I cut it a few more times before doing it....plus we haven't used any lawn feeds or these 4 in 1 products......

Its a bit comical really, the neighbours garden was done at the same time by the developers, haven't stayed off the garden, haven't watered twice aday.... already he's been out aerating with a garden fork, using that 4in1 and after cut..even though he's not mowed the lawn yet and compare the 2 lawns...his looks rubbish

 

I would make some experimental holes to see if the builders just buried all their rubble in the garden - that seems to be the norm, but is totally unacceptable in my opinion. It shouldn't be necessary to add tonnes of topsoil - although it would be fair to say that if the build had muck up the soil, and just left the subsoil, then topsoil would need to be put back.

Just putting topsoil "over the top" of an old lawn / etc. doesn't constitute preparation for a lawn:

• If there is rubble buried it all needs to come out. It will never function well as a garden, or a lawn, until that is done.
• The soil needs digging / rotavating (to a depth of 9" or so), then levelling, then firming and then you can either sow grass seed or lay turf (preparation is the same).

You shouldn't need to water new turf twice a day - once a day / every other day should be fine. However, it does need a good soaking each time - enough so that the water soaks through & under the turf, and then the turf roots grow down to where the water is (if you give it a light watering only the surface will be wet, and the roots will grow there, and then when you stop watering they will fry in the sun). Stick a flat bowl on the lawn, under the sprinkler, and water until there is an inch in the bowl.

You should work to wean the lawn off additional water - every other day for a week, then every third day for a couple of weeks, and so on. Aim to get to the point where you only water twice a week through its first summer, maybe 3 times a week if we get really hot & dry weather.

I wouldn't do anything with it, such as overseeding, until the Autumn. IME new turf has so much fertiliser in it that you don't need to feed it again that year! Sounds like your may have been some cheap stuff. I wouldn't rush to put too much fertiliser on it, even if it doesn't look that grand, it will grow weak as a consequence and may not establish as well. Perhaps consider some fertiliser to promote root growth, rather than green top (so something low, or low-ish, in Nitrogen, whereas most lawn fertiliser is high in Nitrogen - which is what gives you the green Wimbledon look )

Don't cut more than 1/3rd off the height of the grass at each mowing - you may find it takes you the rest of the summer to get new turf down to an ideal mowing height, if so ou'll have to live with it being shaggy I'm afraid. And make sure the blades on your mower are really sharp (otherwise they will shatter the blades of grass, rather than cut, and that will make it slower for the grass to recover, allow disease in, etc. Basically it will just slow down the speed that the lawn establishes )

 

Just to add to Kristen's reply.....grass like most other plants will create new growth by mowing. If you prune a plant it tends to branch out and become bushier, the same happens with grass except you don't really notice it until your lawn thickens up.