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Been wanting to sort my garden out for a while. We have been in the house a while now but only just getting round to playing in the garden.
A plain canvass, all hard landscaping with a couple of shrubs. I have decided where I would like the grass area but my problem is how to go about it.
I think turf would be the best option, as I would love to start sooner rather than later even though I appreciate it will need plenty of watering.
The soil is heavy clay! Would I need to mix in some good top soil pos sand to help with drainage or would it be fine just to lay the turf on top?
Is it really difficult to do correctly ( I once tried laying lino in the kitchen, because I thought it looked easy! never again) or should I employ a professional?
Any help and advice from you experienced gardeners would be appreciated. Thanks.

We have the same in our garden its all paving at the mo, we are going to get part of it up and have grass down!

But thats not the point, where we used to live we had a big back garden and there was a border which was too wide so we got some turf, before laying it we dug over the soil and i sprinkled some grass seed (just in case lol), stamped the ground back down and then layed the turf on top making sure it went to the edges we wanted, never walk on fresh layed turf as it can damage the roots (so i am told) water in. then water in the evenings. fingerscrossed things should be ok.

Good luck! x

We are HEAVY clay here too. We layed a turf lawn on 2 tonnes of topsoil mixed with sand. It still cracks in dry weather and floods in wet weather!

You shouldn't walk on it to begin with, but we, I think, were too precious about ours and it has suffered for not being trampled/camped/picniced on!

Make sure you remove any weed roots etc. as we did, however some of the little buggers have found their way up through about 8 inches of beautiful topsoil!

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You will be better off getting someone in to lay the turf and do the rest yourself. It looks easier than it actually is!
I tried to do mine, one of my customers is a turf supplier and lent me the proper tools for the weekend, and he still had to come and sort it out the following week.

Ooh I think it would probably depend how on practical you are. Personally I am useless at anything that has to be really precise or straight I saw Titchmarsh do it on the tv and he made it look easy but I know I still wouldn't be any good at it.

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Sarah Creating Bespoke Wedding Flowers Cheshire

I'm a big believer that certain things in life should be left to the professionals, a few of these being, electrics, plastering, floorsanding, plumbing, floristry (obviously) and turf laying. We did ours two years ago and have seeded it and it still looks poo.

My hubby is a definate academic and he managed o.k. make sure the edges meet and knit together well. prepare the soil and keep watered!Good luck

Thank you all for your replies. I think I'll get a couple of quotes off people then make my decision but I'm favouring the professional approach at the moment if I ballsed it up I would be so mad and it would so remind me of the DIY brides who think its all a piece of piss.
Off to work out how to install a new boiler now!!!!

YouTube - Banchory Academy Last Day 08 THE TURFING

Turfing video - teens displaying rare effort and teamwork on the last day of school. Just because!