Any turf experts?

[McDougal]

We've recently moved into a new build which has turfed front and back gardens. We've been checking it over, watering when the rain has stayed away but it's still very spongy when we've (very tentatively) walked on it. I think it's only been down 3 - 4 weeks but has rooted well. Does anyone know when it will be settled enough to use?

It's our first house with a garden for a few years and DD is chomping at the bit to get out on it!

I’m not an expert, but I’ve laid a couple of lawns and we stayed off them for a couple of months and then tried to avoid heavy use for the rest of that season. That may well have been excessive, but both of them survived. Presumably the grass has rooted, so hopefully you won’t need to leave it that long.

I had my turf done last march and was told not to walk on it for at least 8 weeks. I was told after 4 weeks it should be rooting but there not deep enough to sustain walking on till 8 weeks. I was also told I could cut it after 8 weeks but not too short at first.

Ahahahaha I've been reading "terf" so much lately I completely forgot about TURF! Had to do a double take!

Thanks for responses everyone. Haha definitely a different type of turf @littleredberries!

Looks like we should stay off it for a while yet and see if we can get some boards to lay on it to step on to water. Just hope we haven't wrecked it where we've stood on it to water

Try to avoid watering as far as possible. Watering from the top will cause sponginess at the surface. When you water infrequently,do it to depth. I.e. wet the soil as far through the profile as possible. On a new build site it's quite possible that your garden is largely on subsoil so will be more prone to retaining water.

Thanks @Onesmallstepforaman. The only advice we were given was to make sure it was well watered so a bit worried now! It still looks good and has rooted well. The only issue is the sponginess so guessing we should lay off the watering?

Yes. If the water is close to the surface the roots will stay there. Deeper roots will give you a more stress resistant lawn.