Lawns and rolling

by Owen
(Milton Keynes UK)

Sorry if this is going over old ground (ho ho). We've just bought a new build house. The builder has put turf down on what was an old garden. It's quite bumpy, (with soil rather than traditonal rubble!) with some areas being more compacted and others quite....soft...as you might expect. I have read your info on lawns and rolling but I wondered if you could confirm that I shouldn't roll it at all, rather let the ground even out over time?

Thanks very much,

Doug says that if the ground is really bumpy on a new lawn, the builder didn't level it before they laid the sod. You can roll but it's only going to increase compaction on the conpacted parts and not do much for the softer ones.

My guess is that you're going to want to allow the lawn to settle a bit and then fill in low areas. At least that would be what I'd be doing. Filling and allowing the grass to work it it's magic at penetrating the underlying compacted soils.

And of course using a lot of compost and compost tea to bring the soil alive.

Good luck.