Turf rooting on Clay - post laying breaking up....

Hi all,

I'm very new to this gardening lark - last I did was helping my mother when I was 10 ... and lets just say that was several decades ago!

I've just moved into a new house and for the first time I have a garden .. so I've just got stuck in. First thing - lawn. There was no grass at all (its a new build) so I thought I'd give it a bash laying some turf and see what happens.

Its 5 days since I laid the turf and I've been watering it a fair bit everyday. The grass looks great - very green (better than when we got the turf) and has grown some. Turf edges starting to look like they are knitting together (when its watered). However, there is no sign of any rooting. My concern is that I didn't break up the (very very hard) clay soil enough before laying the turf and the grass is going to have a right job trying to get some feet down.

Is there anything I can do now to help it? I'm thinking something like getting a fork in there and loosening up the soil (adding in sand?) before watering? I'm assuming that whilst its all looking nice now, its just growing from the soil that was part of the turf and that's not a sustainable situation?

Or maybe I'm just being waaaayyy too impatient in this instant-gratification world we live in and I should just give it a chance before I should start "helping"...

Cheers all,

Tim.

 

Welcome to GC Tim.

New build houses are notorious for builders rubble amongst other things being buried in the gardens and this tends to have a big effect on what will grow including lawns. I would have dug down at least a spades depth to see whether it was clear and also to loosen the soil. With clay it is often best to dig in sand and/or gravel to help keep the soil open. The surface of the soil should have been loosened with a rake before laying the turf to give the roots something to cling to but there's no reason why they shouldn't force themselves down. You say it's only five days since the lawn was laid, it could take two to three weeks before it roots itself properly and for your information, the roots only grow to a depth of four or five inches.

The chances are that the turves haven't begun to root down and you can check this by lifting it gently in a few places to see. If it hasn't rooted you could take the opportunity of lifting it and preparing the soil a little better underneath, but that's your choice of course. The other option is to wait until the lawn has established properly then spike it with a garden fork and brush some sharp sand into the holes, this will help with drainage.

 

Did you put growmore under the turf? This would have helped it knitt into the ground better and fast. Depending on temp it can take upto 3 months to root properly