You've found the famous Dave's Garden website! Join this friendly global community that shares tips and ideas for home and gardens, along with seeds and plants!
Check out the DG homepage for a brief overview of what you'll find in this gardening mega-site.
Login
If you don't have an account yet, visit the registration page to sign up.
I live in the UK in London, and am wondering when the best time to lay a new lawn would be.
Our back garden is south-west facing and gets good sunlight. The soil seems to have a lot of clay in it. At present, the area of the garden we are looking to lay a lawn on is a mixture of topsoil and weeds.
I would like to have a lawn ready by the summer, and will therefore be happy to just lay turf.
I would think spring would be a good time, I don't know if your summers get hot at all, but it's best to get it in so that it has time to get established before hot weather comes.
Yes, if you are just laying sod, and not seeding, you can do that in the spring. and water water water. (Unless God does it for you)
If you are seeding, it is a bit more difficult to get the perfect lawn as you have competition with the weeds. but, spring, as well.
Not sure about UK, but I just took a turfgrass class and they recommend early fall. Most weeds are either annual and done by that time or winter and haven't started yet, so it will give you a great chance to get going without any compatition. Rule was do the work laborday weekend and you should be able to get one mowing and a winterizer fertilizer down before true winter sets in, so the turfgrass can concentrate on it's root system all winter long without having to worry about maintaning it blades (leaves).
Fran
I agree with the fall seeding as well. I did some patch work in the fall with 100% kbg (kentucky Blue grass seed which is hard ro germinate and it took. Fall is good because he soil is warm and the air is getting cooler. But if you want a nice lawn for summer (for a wedding or something) definitely go sod (Or turf in England)