Clucking Turf laying

In over one year as an apprentice, turf laying was still something that I hadn't had the chance to do, until now!

This property had a 'blank space' in front of the chicken coop, which was some very patchy grass mixed in with some very patchy, compacted soil. So it was decided that we will create a nice path to the chickens flanked by two patches of freshly laid turf.

Firstly we had to remove to existing grass, or what there was of it.

Patches removed from work area

Next we had to measure to find the exact locations for the wooden edging that would hold the areas of turf. We then dug some over sized trenches, this would give us some room to maneuver the edging if we needed to.

I then made sure the areas were accurately measured and square to the path and the coop, before hammering the wooden pegs into the ground that the edging would later be fixed to.

A cat in a trench

Edging being fixed to pegs

After the edging had been cut and fixed to all the ground pegs, I then began the process of filling the spaces with top soil in preparation for the turf delivery. This was sieved to remove the larger lumps and any stones that may have made the journey in the bag delivery. By doing this I had a lovely, fines layer of top soil that I gently pressed down with my feet.

Sieved out particles

Soil laid out and ready to receive the turf

The next day we received the turf, it came in rolls stacked on a pallet. The areas for the turf were pretty much exactly three rolls wide, this meant that laying the rolls next to each other but in opposite directions would give an instant striped lawn effect.

Turf delivery

First rolls going down

Each new roll was overlapped with the previous one, which I then cut to create a tight join. I cut the joins with some edging shears. At each join i made sure to lay some extra top soil, this would help the grass to grow in those areas where there would otherwise be nothing for it to grow into.

Topsoil along join line

Cutting the turf

Now the turf needed a really good watering in, so I put a sprinkler down and let it soak the turf for over an hour, moving it regularly to make sure the whole area got plenty of water, I knew when it had had enough when the water had soaked through to the top soil underneath. This helps to create a good contact with soil and turf and will encourage new roots to grow into the soil.

Sprinkler doing it's thing

lastly, i added some composted bark mulch around the turf areas, this creates a nice new pathway and also looks good too.

I'm really happy with the outcome of this little project, and I feel that i picked up some really handy little tricks and tips along the way, making laying turf in the future now problem.

The finished job!