New turf or keep the one I've got

[Iamanananas]

We moved in our house 4 years ago. The previous owner put some turf in the back garden which is quite wet and often in the shade. A lot of moss has grown and the grass has been awful for a couple of years. I decided to dig it up to see what's going on and discovered that the turf had been laid on a membrane and almost no top soil. That will explain my problem. So I think I need to get rid of this membrane, flatten the surface but I don't know if I should put a new turf on it and re-use the one I just lifted. It would be a pain to have to get some new turf as I would cost quite a bit of money but if the old one won't work, I will be happy to get new one. Any advice?

I would reuse the turf, but also feed and seed.

A gardener told us on Friday that we were too late to put turf down this year. Don't know how true that is but he seemed to think so..

Oh don't worry, just water daily. We've all done it! It will shrink if underwatered, and you can't miss out bits!

if it has survived being laid on membrane (agog at this) it's worth trying to reuse it if it looks reasonably grassy, must be tough as anything. But if it is very mossy then start again, as if you get it right the moss will die and leave you with blotchy patches that the grass has to cover before the weeds get it.

You can rent a machine to lift turf which makes lovely strips of the same width and depth, but your membrane may get in the way. Or you could just use the membrane to roll it up like a swiss roll . Make sure it stays damp while you are stacking it up and be very nice to the soil under the membrane, lots of soil improver etc.

Is it really too late to turf this year? I really need to do this, but first I need to exchange contracts and move in!

Why not try reusing the turf you already have, preferably doing the job during a cool period of weather. Then, water, water and water again, morning and evening.

If it dies off, you can returf in the autumn. But worth a shot doing it now, imo, as you already have the turf and a problem.

We have just moved into a new house where the turf only went down 3 weeks ago and it is doing brilliantly so I doubt that it is too late to turf this year; and this was laid onto ground that was literally a building site a few days before with all the big equipment driving over it so your should be much better that that. Good luck.