Have you ever had your garden re-laid?

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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on July 27, 2019 at 0:27

We had our lawn relaid by bloom gardening http://www.bloomgardening.co.uk. Billie often posts on HOL. They did an excellent job and lawn is looking lovely, despite all its battles with my 9 year old son.

You will need to loosen and possibly remove some soil and add loads of topsoil to the mix. And give the new lawn a month to bed in before walking on it..

Lawns ultimately require loads of work to keep them looking good. 

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Permalink Reply by Shar on July 27, 2019 at 11:11

Thanks both - useful advice!

Re drainage, I guess the foxes have done that testing for us and the holes dry up fairly quickly so that doesn't seem to be an issue...

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Permalink Reply by kotkas on July 27, 2019 at 16:42

We also relaid our turf, following a 3 months of our garden being used as building materials storage during our refurbishment which compacted the surface quite badly and killed off the existing mature lawn. I think we got the grass from Amazon - it was excellent quality. We had a fair bit of clay but we turned it over and evened out its distribution pretty crudely. In the first year it became quite water-logged, and subsequently very patchy, but 2 years on it's looking very good. For me the learnings are:

- don't walk on it for the maximum possible period of time

- put as much topsoil as possible/practical

- give it time it to 'fuse' with the undersoil - that I think can take many months

- expect some patches not to catch on - re-seed regularly and don't over-water which i am told forces the grass to set in deeper roots/become more resilient

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Permalink Reply by Sally on July 28, 2019 at 8:43

Hi Shariq,

We've laid turf in this area successfully.

As other contributors have said, good preparation & aftercare are the key to getting the best results.

Here's a good step by step guide from the RHS which will give you an idea of what's involved if you'd like to DIY:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=410

For our own lawn (we're on the ladder) we just used a patch reseeding technique:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=438

Cutting your lawn very regularly (at least weekly in the growing season) is a good way to thicken up the sward & encourage new shoots from the roots (known as rhizomes & tillers)

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/how-to-mow-your-lawn

There's also some advice here on spring & autumn care for your lawn:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=413

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=308

For general lawn advice, including how to introduce wild flowers & trouble shooting:

https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/garden-features/lawns

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Permalink Reply by LondonN4 on July 28, 2019 at 10:10

Hi

If you want to save some money, it's easy peasy to sow a lawn from seed

https://www.homebase.co.uk/ideas-advice/garden-and-outdoor/lawn/how...

Good luck

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