Laying turf – South West Turf

The secret to laying your turf successfully in a timely manner is to have the preparation done well in advance. Good preparation is worth every minute in doing so. Is your watering system fully functional and do you know how to operate the computerised watering system?

Plan where you might start. No point having to drive equipment or walk over already laid watered turf.
Where possible start at a straight line to lay your turf. eg. driveway or back fence.
Lay turf in a brickwork pattern across any hill or slope you may have.
Make sure that each section of turf is butted against each other firmly to discourage weed regrowth through the gaps. Topdressing with sand also discourages weed growth through the gaps (do not overlap as this will create lumps and bumps).
Use an old bread knife to cut around curves, sprinkler heads and odd shapes etc. Where there is no chance of chipping concrete paths or other features, simply chop with a shovel.
Lay the turf out, smooth ensuring good soil contact.
Add a suitable lawn fertiliser.
Rolling your kikuyu turf can also be beneficial but not essential.

For Kings Pride installations, South West Turf recommends it is top-dressed with sand for optimum results. Sand, while having little nutritional value, seals the turf in and allows the turf valuable time to establish more evenly through better moisture management. A cheap, coarse pit sand is suitable at a rate of 1 cubic metre of sand per 100sq of turf area is all that’s needed (about 1cm in depth). This will facilitate a level finish and help retain moisture in inland NSW’s very hot summer months and insulate in the cooler months for a head start to a magnificent lawn. To attain a level finish, place a manageable size piece of reo type mesh or similar on the already laid turf. The one shown is 1m by 3m sheep yard mesh. Then with your weight pressing the mesh firmly onto the surface of the turf, add sand and screed off exposing as much leaf as possible. Progressively move the mesh around your turf repeating the process. Alternatively, very good results can also be had using a topdressing bar rake for levelling the sand. Finally, water the sand and fertilizer into the turf. After a couple of weeks the sand will barely be visible. Topdressing mesh, a turf hand drawn roller and topdressing bar rake is available for hire from Griffith City Hire (02 6964 3333).

Next steps

Start watering as soon as practical after the first strip has been laid. Careful not to have traffic over previously laid wet turf
At this point the first watering is very important. Soak to the equivalent of 20-25mm rainfall. More may be needed in the peak of summer.
For the first couple of weeks be generous with watering until roots establish. DO NOT LET YOUR NEW TURF DRY OUT. Also bear in mind that any turf does not like to be waterlogged.
Once established, a less frequent, deep watering regime can be used to promote deep root growth. This will ensure your new turf will become drought hardy.
Mowing may commence after about two weeks depending on time of year and root establishment. Set your mower height on a high setting initially, and progressively reduce the height to your desired mowing height after a few mowing’s. Never “scalp” your turf. While it will recover, it may take an extent ended period to do so.
For more lawn care info click here to visit Turf Australia.

South West Turf

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