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To retain the vivid green lush look of a new lawn and good healthy grass
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First of all, a new lawn especially a roll turf lawn can be installed pretty much any time of the year except of course excluding during very cold and/or wet spells. On the other hand, a seeded lawn can only be done during April- October, when the ground conditions are drier and soil temperatures are a little warmer. The ground preparations for roll turf and/or seed are similar. All new lawns require good ground preparations irrespective of how the lawn is to be installed. A seeded solution will take longer to develop and if the ground preparation have not been carefully completed, weeds are going to appear very soon and compete for valuable moisture and nutrients. The time and effort involved from seeding to lawn becoming established can be several months before a firm, hard wearing attractive sward is vigoro lawn fertilizers achieved. Roll turf on the other hand can become very established within a matter of a few weeks, i.e., capable of withstanding the challenges of young children play within 2-3 weeks and certainly within a month be well established to take the toss and tumble of children playing football. But for many people the clear advantage and indeed preference for selecting to use roll turf and no grass seed is that the newly installed roll turf lawn has the 'finished look' when completed on Day 1. The only aftercare during the initial weeks involves keeping the grass moist but this will also apply to a seeded area. If you wish to replace/install a new lawn, here are a few useful tips: o Remove existing lawn (Tip: prior to commencement of works, spray old grass with a systemic weedkiller) in a small area, a flat spade should be adequate, for larger areas, consider hiring a sod cutter machine o Dig or rotovate the soil to at least the depth of a spade, 12"/300mm o Remove all stones, builders debris etc o Apply a good fertiliser (e.g. pre-turfing feed) to area by raking into the soil o Rake the area to produce an even smooth level and a fine tilth finish to surface o Water the area well and allow to settle o Prior to installing the new lawn, ensure the are is generally dry. Installing the new Lawn Ideally new roll turf should be installed as soon as possible after delivery, if for any reason, this is not possible, roll turf may be rolled out onto a flat surface and if kept moist, can be stored in this fashion for up to 48 hours. Under no circumstances are the individual sods to be left rolled up for an extended period as new grass will quickly deteriorate and turn yellow. o Begin by the laying the sod along the longest straight line, and ensure that subsequent lines are staggered, i.e. row 1 starts with a full roll length, row 2 starts with a half roll length and roll 3 starts with a full row length o Push edges together and ensure all joints are well butted, a sharp knife will be required to cut sods (I find an Old Bread Knife ideal). Avoid any small cuts as these will tend to be poor at retaining moisture and will dry out very quickly. Instead adjust lengths of last two rolls so that the end piece is not narrower than 12"/300mm wide o Avoid during installation walking on the new turf, use boards or wide sheeting o After installation is completed, water well and continue daily until approx 2 weeks by which time the new sods should have become well knitted and rooted in the ground
Aftercare for the new Lawn To retain the vivid green lush look of a new lawn and good healthy grass growth: o Continue feeding the lawn every six weeks during the growing season (April-October) and do not forget to apply a winter feed later in year (which is a specially formulated feed to ensure strong root development) o It is very important during the initial few months that the new lawn does not dry out, so if necessary water regularly o Do not allow the grass become too long and generally avoid cutting the new lawn shorter than 2"/50mm. Frequent cutting (except during wet spells) are ideal to maintaining a beautiful finish. One of my British buddies is very fond of saying, "You sod!" or "Sod that!" so naturally when I first came across the acronym SOD in a nutrition book I thought that it referred to the British cuss word. Here in our farming community, the word "sod" means green grass. People around here cultivate sod, which they then sell to developers to create new lawns. But my favorite definition of the word "sod" is Superoxide Dismutase, the acronym for which is SOD. Neither green grass nor a cuss word, SOD is an extremely important antioxidant in the body. In fact, we pretty much can't live, at least not well, without SOD. So What the Heck is SOD Anyway? SOD is an antioxidant, which basically means that it's the body's police and cleanup crew. SOD goes around the body and neutralizes free radicals, specifically the superoxide free radical, and other destructive antioxidants. So far that all sounds good, if a bit boring. So let me put it in terms that are a little more stark: Throughout our lives, our bodies produce about 3 TONS of superoxide free radicals. That equals a lot of damage to the body, since the superoxide radical can attack cells, damage DNA, and even be a pre-cursor to cancer. All this makes SOD super important. In fact, it is such an important part of keeping our body's healthy that whenever we are stressed, our brains immediately increase the production of SOD. What Else Does SOD Do for Us? In addition to general policing of free radicals around the body, SOD has many other important functions, including: SOD is one of our body's first line defenders against free radicals, and basically protects the body from free radicals on all levels, from the cellular level to organ systems. Where Do We Get SOD? All organisms contain and produce SOD, some more than others. There are actually three kinds of SOD, one each associated with copper, zinc, and manganese. When we suffer from deficiencies in any of these minerals, then our
bodies can't produce SOD. Well sod that! Luckily, we can get SOD in the foods we eat. Foods that are high in SOD include: You can also boost your intake of copper and zinc by eating foods including: To boost your intake of manganese, try these foods: For humans and animals, I have personally found that supplementation with wheat sprouts is a particularly convenient "all in one" solution that doesn't require a lot of shopping or cooking. Wheat sprouts also supports joint health and has many antioxidant properties of its own. Enjoy!
