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Assuming the new area is well trodden down by 'duck walking' as I call it, it wont settle MUCH. It will a little but all depends how deep you rotavated and 'fluffed up' the soil and how well you walked it down again afterwards. Very hard to quantify exactly as so much depends on the soil structure etc I am afraid.
I still have some prep to do so I may get the initial joint closer to level and run at a slight incline to blend the two lawns together.
the beneath the composted manure and top soil is mostly clay so already pretty compact, I am going to roll the area tomorrow as long as the snow is gone so I guess I will no better then.
thanks
Did something very similar a couple of years ago, we cut back and feathered the edge of the existing turf by removing some of the soil from underneath the existing turf so removing an obvious step from old to new turf. Join is unnoticeable.
That's great advice, thanks.
The prepared ground should be slightly below the existing lawn surface. About 20mm, to allow for the thickness of the turf. The turf will swell after it is laid when it gets wet, so will look too proud to start with. But once it roots it pulls itself down again and after a few months you should not see any kind of joint, except for the obvious change in grass ‘quality’ between the old lawn and the newly turfed area.
As regards the ‘heel walking’, this is the method for small areas. But with large areas as in this case it would be a real pain to do this. For many years now, instead of using my feet/heels, I have used one of my ride on mowers. My Stiga 704 weighs about 250kg plus me on the machine. I have found that this exerts the same ‘just right’ kind of pressure as the heel method, but of course it is much, much faster and with considerably less physical effort, pain and time being taken.
You have to cover every inch with the wheels/tyres, just as you would with your feet.
Ah, ok I have only turfed up to patios etc where we have left it slightly proud and it has dropped later on. I have a ride on but I'm not sure the access is available.
would a roller not work for this? I have one but it's probably 100kg max.
Standard practice to use a roller over healing in for consolidation of soil, I be fine. If you can use a machine do it for an easy Life. Obviously rake after to fill any dips. I once use a 7.5 ton digger for a putting green, never again complete pig to rake. Just don't use your brand new Hilux cause you might get it dirty.
No, I would not use a roller. Rollers are for existing, established lawns only.
The whole point of the ride on mower in compacting the soil is that the tyres have a small ‘footprint’, so as to apply pressure to a small area, just like using your heel. A roller, being fairly wide, would merely ride over the softer less compacted bits. So it’s not the weight of the roller that’s the issue. It’s the weight spread over a large area, thus reducing its ability to compact every square inch, as when using your foot.
What I do is level [without worrying about compacting too much] then go over with the machine. This compacts and shows you where to top up/build/re-level [often applying more topsoil] and go over with machine again. Usually doing this three times is enough. A quick tickling up with the rake and you're ready to lay the turf.
You lay the turf working off scaffolding planks, making sure to ‘plank’ [walking up and down the plank] every square inch of turf as you go. I would never use a roller on newly laid turf. The Plank method is far better.
This was a work in progress, the turfing of new graves. Here I had levelled and turfed the last [about] 13 graves on this row, matching the level with the existing turf that I had laid the year before. These were done using the mower levelling method. It is so much faster using a machine. The results are very good.
Vic did you not read Tom's reply? The access is not suitable for a ride on mower.
Vic, would you heal in or used a roller on an area the size of a tennis court?
Yes, I read his reply and what he actually said was ‘I have a ride on but I'm not sure the access is available’.
I would still not use a roller even on a tennis court sized area for the reasons I gave above. A roller will only ever compact without leaving any un-compacted pockets/areas if the roller is far too heavy for this type of use and then the ground is actually too hard and not fit for purpose. It’s all about compacting every square inch to the right degree. Not too much compaction and not too little and done consistently, whilst still able to rake the soil.
If the roller only weighs 100kg it isn’t going to compact properly, it will be very patchy.
I have found that a 250kg/300kg machine with a given wheel/tyre size, plus the weight of the driver on board, compacts the ground perfectly, about the same as the heel method. So I would use the ‘mower method’ on the tennis court area.
Over many years now, the turfing I have done has always needed the ground building up with screened top soil. So the mower method is particularly perfect for this. You build up in layers.
As I said above, you level – compact with mower –apply and level another thin layer of top soil - compact with mower –apply and level another thin layer of top soil - compact with mower – final tickle over with rake – lay turf.
It’s a very fast method.
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