Should you lay turf or sow seed for your new lawn?

If you are developing a new garden, you will face an important decision about your lawn. Should you sow seed and grow your own lawn, or order rolls or turf and achieve an instant finished garden? There are number of factors you should take into account when setting about your home garden.

Speed to achieving the finished lawn.

The key advantage of achieving your new lawn by laying turf is speed. Turf comes in rolls and can be rolled out quite quickly. Whilst laying turf should be done correctly, it is much quicker than waiting for grass seed to take hold. Your turf will be ready for use immediately. If you sow grass seed the shoots will appear after a week or so (depending on time of year) and the lawn will not be ready for full use for several months.

Cost of the lawn

The cost of growing your lawn from seed is substantially less. The cost of turf could be ten times that of seed. However, don't necessarily be temped to buy the cheapest grass seed. The are different seed types that will produce different types of lawn. You should pick the right one for you. If your garden is to be used as a football pitch for kids, pick a seed that will produce a durable lawn.

Effort

Neither method is effortless unless your paying a gardener to produce your lawn. However the work is different. Growing your lawn from seed will require you to protect the seed from birds, ensure it receives adequate water, and that large weeds don't start to flourish. Turf on the other hand is heavy and for a large area of garden can take quite a time to get it into the right place and rolled out. Turf normally comes in short rolls and a surprising large stack will be required for a relatively small area. Garden turf must be laid within a few days of delivery to ensure the grass doesn't start to go yellow.

Tips

Ground preparation is all important when creating a lawn from grass seed. The area should be prepared well in advance, dug over, broken down, and raked into a fine bed. Having sown the seed, you can then roller the area to push the seed down and give your lawn the best chance.

If you choose turf as a root to the perfect lawn, ensure the ground is level, clear of debris, and when laying each roll, ensure they overlap slightly; pushed snugly together, to avoid gaps developing between rolls.