My new lawn

[jacobsdad]

Hi all, this is my first post, so be gentle!

I moved into my first home in August 2005 and the garden was a concret jungle - paving slabs etc. so I decided that as well as planting som flower boxes I would lay some turf. I know nothing about gardening bu wanted to be a bit more green.

I took up an area 3m x 5m of paying slabs to find about 8 inches o sand underneath. Because I live in a town house, it wasn't practical t dispose of the sand so I simply visited B&Q and brough enough turf t cover the area of, now levelled, sand.

The next day I spoke to a friend who said there was no chance of th grass surviving on sand. I was a bit upset by that notion but hav continued to water the lawn and today have cut the now very thick, lon and green grass (it's been 2 months since I laid it). It appears to hav knitted together very well and looks healthy (although I know littl about these things). I have not fed it yet as the plant food labels ar against this for the first 6 months of laying the turf. I have tried t uproot the turf on a corner to see if it has rooted - the result i that I actually can't pull up the turf easily becuase it has rooted s well.

When I cut it today I left the cuttings on the lawn (this is calle "mulching" so I understand and helps?).

My question is 1.) do you think it will survive all year and, 2. should I feed it now? Any tips would be brill.

Thanks,

JACOBSDAD

-- jacobsdad

[Stubby]

"brill" ???

Anyway, guessing that you are in the UK, say near London. I recommend a light feeding with a "starter" fertilizer. You don't want to have the lawn trying to grow fast during the hot summer months. Be sure to water it. You can read up on that numerous places on the web. It's fine to leave the clippings on the lawn unless they are so heavy that they smother the lawn.

You won't have to worry about crabgrass because you don't have any bald, unshaded spots. Hopefully the dandelions and other broad leaf weeds haven't taken hold yet. Good luck.

[trader4]

I think it's doubtful this sod, laid on only sand, will survive long term. Turf needs some amount of decent topsoil and all this has is the tiny amount that came with the sod. Even if it does survive, it will likely present future problems, like needing a lot more water because the sand will drain quickly. And grass in less than optimal conditions gets stressed easier and hence becomes more prone to disease and insects, etc.

I'd would definitely fertilize it now and using a starter fertilizer is a good idea too, though not critical.

[Steven]

Um...you may want to read the U.S.G.A. recommendations for growing turf. This lawn will do fine, and in fact may turn out to be the nicest in the neighborhood. Mine is, and it has a 6" sand base.

[Kyle Boatright]

What type of grass did you plant? Some have deeper roots than others. Given your climate, I imagine you'll get enough rain to allow the sod to survive. The key to long term success for you is infrequent, deep waterings. The idea is to get the roots to go deep. Frequent waterings will encourage shallow roots, which is what you'd like to avoid.

Feeding is good. Use a fertilizer with a medium to low nitrogen content and high content of the other components. Again, this will promote root growth over blade growth.

[trader4]

Are you referring to how golf course greens are constructed and suggesting that they are built on 100% sand? I believe the soil used is not pure sand, but in fact a mix of sand and organic material. And that is a very special application optimized to unique requirements, chief among them is needing it to drain very fast. To support that, they have the ability to closely monitor it, water very frequently, apply fertilizer frequently, chemicals at the first sign of trouble, etc.

Here's an excerpt from Turfgrass Producers Intl, an organization that should know something about growing turf and also of interest because sod is what the OP put down and that's exactly what they produce:

"Grass obtains three of these four essential factors (air, water and nutrients) from the soil, but many soils are less than ideal for growing grass. Some soils contain too much clay and may be very compacted... great for roads, bad for grass, because air and water aren't available to the roots and the roots can't grow. Other soils may have too much sand... beautiful on a beach, but difficult to grow grass because water and nutrients won't stay in the root zone long enough for the plant to use."

[jacobsdad]

"Brill" = short for "Brilliant".

Thanks to all your comments, which I have read with interest, but i appears the argument for my questions are two sided.

As I am in UK (Colchester) we have fairly decent weather and a mix o sun and rain I'm able to water it every night (or at least every othe night) when there is a lack of rain, but will probably reduce this t once every 3 nights with a heavy dousing of H20. I'll also give it som food and will make a point in the winter of laying some of my home-grow compost to increase the soil composite.

Thanks for your help.

JACOBSDA

-- jacobsdad