UKC

I'm planning on hiring a digger this weekend, partly because the 5 year old in me really wants to play with a digger and partly so I can rip my garden to bits and prepare the ground for a lawn and a new garage.

I was going to buy turf to put down, but i wondered if putting seed down has any advantages? I imagine it would be significantly cheaper, but does it require more prep? Is it the right time of year for seed? Or for turf for that matter?
The area I want to cover is around 80m^2 if that helps sway the decision, does anybody have any useful advice?

In reply to Dandan:

It's too early in the year yet for seed, early spring is best, and the work required to prepare ground for seed is quite considerable. You'll need to rake it flat (ish), till the first couple of inches, remove as many stones and debris as you can before you seed and fertilise the area.

In your position I would turf it to be honest. When I re-landscaped my garden a few years ago, which was a similar size, the turf cost about £160 including delivery. A few hours later, instant lawn, although you can't really use it properly for a couple of weeks, but it's an easy, yet physical job to do.

Hope that helps.

In reply to Dandan:

Turf

In reply to the power:

As above - seed is cheaper but takes a lot of time and prepatation, and then you have to wait a LONG time for the root system to develop and mesh together before you can think about walking on it, and even then you have to be very careful about the first few cuts or you can pull whole patches of grass out.

Turf is pretty much instant lawn as long as you don't do anything too vigorous.

In reply to Ron Rees Davies:

For that area coverage definitely turf. If you have not turfed before there are plenty videos on YouTube to help you.

In reply to kerny:

Thanks everyone, turf it is then. I've already laid a small area to turf so i'm fine with the process of laying it, I jsut wanted to make sure i wasn't missing a trick with seed but it sounds like a load of extra hassle.

In reply to Dandan:

One advantage of seed is you can get a lot of different varieties , most turf supplies (not all) just do turf , ok in most places but one consideration is very shady areas or under trees turf will just die off ! I have laid one garden path 4or5 times and the turf died every time due to lack of sunlight - eventually convinced them to try a shady seed variety - not instant like turf but 2 years later they now have a deep green lawn path

In reply to Dandan:

Top tips.

Use an old wood saw for cutting any corners or infills. Much easier than hacking away with a spade.

Overlap the joints, like brickwork.

Get a scaffold plank (or similar) and really wack it down after you've laid it and, most important, water it every (and I do mean every!) night for a couple of weeks.

In reply to Dandan:

, , , , , you can also get seed varieties that favour drought , rough use/football , shorter/golf greens , ect
If your garden get plenty of sun , drainage , ect turf will be fine just don't let it dry out for few Weeks (not likely but can happen !! , and use planks of wood to walk over /flatten the turf down when laying

In reply to Dandan:
another problem with seed is that the birds eat a fair amount of it too!

In reply to Dandan:

I used seed on about 120+m2, up a hill. I had already rotovated it down to about 30cm to remove tree roots and the like. I got seeds from Boston Seeds, shady lawn type, although only a bit is in shade for part of the day. It takes about 2 weeks to start looking like a lawn and a month or so and its like its been there for ever. (I kept some seed back to go over any areas that were patchy.)

I also got some wild flower seeds and sprinkled them in with the mix. I was expecting a colourful lawn, but I've got bunches of smaller green plants growing in the lawn and some flowers, rather than the riot of colour I was expecting. If you want that sort of thing, you may be better with flower plugs / bulbs, rather than seed

As for the birds eating it, I don't really care. I put food out for the birds anyway, and it wasn't really a problem. You rake the seeds in after sewing anyway, so the majority of them are covered.

In reply to Dandan:

If you're prepared to put the time & effort in, seeding is probably your best bet for a better lawn as turf is basically just a bit of field that's been mowed & treated before being cut (unless you go for Cumberland sea turf as used on bowling greens).

If you do turf, you'll probably end up with cracks between the turves which can be filled by raking in a mixture of compost, sharp sand and grass seed.

For both turfing or seeding, the best thing for preparing the soil after you've got a good tilth is an old fashioned wooden hay rake like this.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Faithfull-5023969217482-Wooden-Hay-Rake/dp/B0001IWR...

In reply to Hat Dude:



Worth making sure you get matching seed in that case.... use the wrong stuff and you'll end up with a lovely grid pattern of lighter/darker coloured or thinner/thicker more/less vigorous looking grass than the turf!

In reply to Dandan:

Seed. It'll cost you a tenth of the price of turf, maybe less.

In reply to Removed UserDeleted bagger:

Another downside of seed is that cats will dig holes everywhere and crap in it, so it becomes all lumpy......

In reply to Trangia:


Shot them.

In reply to Dandan:

I've turfed 3 lawns now, make sure you buy decent turf or you wind up importing weeds and mushrooms into your garden. I'd still turf again rather than seed but I'd spend a little extra and go for a good turf rather than 'meadow grass'.

In reply to teflonpete:

£1.40 per square metre I paid last year. As they say in the grass world -"it's good shit"