Is A Quick Lawn A Good Lawn?

There are times when home gardeners want to develop a quick lawn. It can be done and you can have a good looking lawn by the end of the week if you really want to. This is done by laying down fresh sod that has been grown elsewhere, then cut and lifted and trucked in. Are these quick lawns as good as the home grown varieties?

Sod looks reasonably good, although obviously sod, and can be developed into a great lawn over time. It does take some care and you may run into difficulties related to the environment. Sod is grown in optimal conditions – full sun, water when required, and fertilizer at various stages of the growing cycle. Once the sod has been cut, there are issues such as damage to the root system and lack of sunlight when transported.

You should have your soil well prepared before your sod arrives. This means tilling and amending the soil, then leveling and lightly rolling to create a lightly compacted and even base on which to lay the sod. The sod should then be laid as soon as it arrives. The longer it stays stacked or rolled, the more damage it may suffer. When laying, each strip must be butted up hard against the previous strip to ensure an even cover. Give your new lawn a light rolling and there you have – an instant lawn.

Once you have laid your sod, you will need to water it every day or two for two weeks before reducing to once a week. Once you have a good head of growth, you can start to mow your new lawn.

The problem most gardeners have with sod is trying to repair damaged patches at a later date. If you purchase sod that has been created using the one grass type, you will need to obtain some seed of the same type and variety. You can then use a lawn repair tool to over sow with seed to repair that damaged patch.

While you may have a quick lawn, gardeners are divided as to whether it is the best way to grow a new lawn. The reality is that it’s personal taste and what you feel works best for you. If you properly maintain a lawn that has been grown from sod, it will look no different than a lawn grown from seed.