We’ve* finally decided to sort our garden out. It’s been cleared, it’s been rotorvatored, it’s been moistened and topped with topsoil, and the turf has been laid… and although it looked great when it first went down, it’s looking a bit worse for wear a few days later. It’s started to shrink at the edges and go a bit brown. 🙁

We’re watering it regularly, but I was wondering – how often/much water should be giving it? A lot of the guides on the internet say stuff like “Water it regularly, but not too much”.

I’m assuming it’ll need quite a bit of watering due to this weird ‘summer’ thing that looks like it’s decided to make an appearance – would it be worthwhile investing in a sprinkler that we can leave on for a bit, or is that likely to drown it?

I wish my dad was alive, he was ace at gardening. We can’t ask Mr Toast’s dad, because he’s from Yorkshire, and will just get really cross that we bought turf instead of planting seed! 😛

HAAAALP!

Water it and tread it down at the same time, so that the turf makes good contact with the soil. The grass won’t like trying to put roots into air.

As for amounts of water – you just need to get the soil wet.

if the turf is laid you need to water it for at least an hour in the morning and an hour at night in this weather , you can not overwater it in this heat , if the edges shrink and go brown to much you will not get the lawn back, one I layed four days ago for a customer has being watered for at least 6 hours a day with a sprinkler and is doing fine

Water it in the evening. If it’s wet when the sun is up or before it makes it scorch.

I can’t see how watering it for an hour gets any more water into it. I am watering mine for 20 mins or so morning and night, it stays damp all day. The bits that were originally in contact with the soil are almost ready to be mowed; the bits that weren’t are recovering slowly.

As above water in the evening and dose it up properly. And yes you need a good sprinkler.

sorry what would I know , only been a landscaper for 30 years ,

Keep some topsoil aside and also some grass seed, any gaps appear soil and seed them. Continue to water in am and pm as already said you should be fine. Newly laid turf does sometimes go off as the nutrient value drops off significantly once laid after being cut. I use chicken manure pellets throughout spring (around 0.5kg sq m per month for 2 months), a bit pongy but feeds the lawn great.

some spare topsoil butted up to the edge of the turf will keep those edges moister than against air.

I laid in ground irrigation and sprinkler heads before landscaping.. best day of work and $100 I ever spend.. waving a hosepipe over a lawn gets boring very fast 😉
Stay off the lawn while it takes too. Should have been rolled into the topsoil when laid.

something like an inch of water a day IIRC

Just a shame our dog kills our lawn everytine she pee’s 🙁

Cheers for the advice all – I might have to avoid the chicken manure though, the dog would just be rolling around in ecstasy! Think we’ve been slightly over cautious about over-watering, especially given the weather.

Get a 12ft trampoline, it’s like a **** elephants been pissn on our lawn

We’re going to get some turf laid where a hedge used to be but we’re advised that seed is a safer bet at this time of year and should be up in two weeks.
I hope you get it sorted ok.

sorry what would I know , only been a landscaper for 30 years ,

Not saying you’re wrong, but as far as I can see mud can only get so wet…?

At least 6 hours watering a day?
No wonder we will have a nationwide hosepipe ban next week!

Laid mine in similar weather last year, 30-40 mins water each evening and it survived
In fact now its like a jungle, cutting it every week at moment
Edges did initially look a bit sick for first couple of weeks but it soon established itself
I imagine there is lots of factors though, how it was laid, soil it was laid on, quality of grass used, how long between harvesting the turf and laying etc