When to lay turf in the UK: the months that work

Why autumn wins

New turf has no roots in the ground beneath it. For its first few weeks it survives on whatever water reaches it, and it is only properly established once roots have grown down into the soil. Autumn gives it the easiest start: the soil is still warm from summer so roots grow quickly, rainfall does most of the watering, and cooler air means the grass loses far less moisture through its leaves.

The Royal Horticultural Society recommends mid-autumn as the ideal time, and says turf can be laid at any point from mid-autumn to early spring. By the following summer an autumn lawn has had six months to root, and copes with dry weather far better than one laid in May.

Month by month

Summer turf is not impossible, and landscapers lay it all year round on new builds, but it needs regular, generous watering right through the summer. The RHS advice is to water every five to ten days through a dry mid to late summer even after the turf has knitted, and new rolls laid in July can need water daily in a heatwave.

Preparing the ground

The work under the turf decides how the lawn looks in two years' time. The RHS sequence is:

• Clear all weeds, with particular care over perennials such as couch grass and bindweed, which will push straight through new turf.
• Dig or rotavate to 20 to 25cm, working in organic matter on thin or sandy soil.
• Leave the ground to settle for at least a few days, ideally five to six weeks.
• Rake level, firm by treading evenly over the whole area, and rake again.
• Scatter a pre-turfing fertiliser at about 35g a square metre if the soil is low in nutrients.

Turf must not go on top of an old lawn. The old grass has to be stripped or killed off and cleared first, or it rots underneath and leaves the new lawn lumpy and patchy.

Laying it

Turf should be laid within 24 hours of delivery. Rolls left stacked on a pallet heat up in the middle and yellow quickly; if laying is delayed, unrolling them flat on the ground keeps the grass alive for a little longer.

The first row goes along a straight edge, and every row after it is staggered like bricks in a wall so the joins never line up. Each piece is butted tightly against its neighbours, and the person laying works from planks on the turf already down, never standing on the prepared soil in front. Once the area is covered, sand or a mix of sand and soil is brushed into the joints to stop the edges drying out.

The first weeks

Water thoroughly straight after laying unless rain is forecast, enough that the soil beneath is wet, not just the grass. The first few days are the critical ones. Lifting a corner shows whether water is getting through. After that, the RHS suggests watering every five to ten days in a dry summer and about fortnightly at other times when rain is scarce.

New turf should be left undisturbed for several weeks while it roots. The first mow usually comes about three weeks after laying, with the mower set high, and only once the turf is rooted enough that a gentle tug does not lift it.

What new turf costs

Turf supplied and laid runs £10 to £30 a square metre across most of the UK, and £15 to £38 in London and the South East. A new 50 square metre lawn outside London comes to £500 to £1,500. The turf itself accounts for only £3 to £10 a square metre; the rest is preparation and labour, and stripping the old lawn and relevelling adds about £20 a square metre. An autumn booking is worth making in late summer, because October is a busy month for laying turf.