Good reasons to lay turf in winter
- Turf can sit on the pallet for longer and still stay in good condition. In hot weather you literally have hours to lay your turf before it starts to cook. In cool weather you can work at a more leisurely pace, sometimes and occasionally a week?
- Turf will be settled by spring. Come spring time you’ll have a dozen other things to be doing. Get the turfing out of the way and you can concentrate on other landscaping and gardening projects.
- You’ll not need to get the hosepipe out as much. Summer turf needs a lot of watering to help it establish. Winter turf will need watering – but not nearly so much.
Things to watch out for
- Don’t go floating your new turf on a sea of mud. The soil needs to be damp but crumbly. Laying turf onto sludge won’t get the best results.
- Soil compaction; more than at any other time of year, it’s important that cultivation damage is avoided when using Diggers, tractors or Rotorvatos that could damage the soil structure, also work from laying boards to avoid leaving dents and dints in you new lawn, I use these all year anyway.
- Lawn feed. Avoid feeding your new lawn before March. You could end up with lush growth that’s susceptible to disease. If you’re laying turf in January or February you can go easy with the pre-turfing fertilizer (unless the soil is very poor indeed)
- Beware of Fertilizer applications during preparation, firstly the wet weather can leach the fertilizer deep into the soil, and secondly I believe that fertilizers and cold weather on roots are not a good match.
- Yellowing, don’t be surprised if the turf (grass) is yellow, it’s not drought but winter shut down, by the spring all will be fine.
Could it be Better to hold off Laying Turf?
The real reason why you have to wait for the ground to be dry, and not frosty is that good preparation of the ground is crucial to getting a good lawn. This is not an overnight job, as you will need several weeks to ensure that all the weeds are gone, and that the ground has settled. To start with, clear all the weeds from the site, especially perennial weeds such as bindweed and couch grass. You may find it helpful to use a good systemic weed killer at this stage to ensure that you have got rid of all the roots. Dig over the site to about a spade’s depth or a little bit more, and dig in some well-rotted organic matter. Allow the ground to settle for a few days or weeks after digging, to ensure that your lawn surface will be level.
Where to buy turf
Meo Landscapes installs and delivers turf in Norfolk and Suffolk, almost all year round. The only thing that might delay your delivery is very heavy rain/cold on the growing fields or a frost so sharp it prevents harvesting.
You can order online or call us on 01508 480461, greg@meolandscapes.co.uk