Can I lay turf at this time of year?

[sushistar]

Some websites say yes, some no. Need advice! Garden is small, sheltered, and in London so maybe warmer than average. Has anyone successfully laid turf in february?

Well I'm waiting to have mine done any day now, by a gardening firm, so I hope so!

Guy who is doing it says that for most of the autumn/winter temperatures have been higher than average, so not really 'winter' (although definitely winter over the last couple of days!)

Our garden is small, sheltered and south facing, and also in London - so it will also be warmer than other places.

I'd say yes!

Well, the garden centre should know I guess! Thanks BIWI! Our titchy lawn is only 3m x 3m, so i'm going to have a bash myself. The person who lived here before gravelled the WHOLE garden, so i'm looking forward to getting some green in there. Do you mind if i ask what garden centre it is? I might check them out on the net.

Not a garden centre - a company called Ed's Garden Maintenance. Know nothing about them, they just happened to shove a business card through my door when I was about to look for someone to do the garden.

Guy came and hacked back/pruned all shrubs that were wild and massively overgrown, then took up the old turf and removed all bits of old roots from the lawn and charged only £80 for that. It took him a day. Garden sounds a bit bigger than yours, but not much!

Re-turfing will cost me £445 - which is a bargain I think. I had a quote about 5 years ago from someone who wanted to charge me £700.

Sounds excellent, cool! Hope it looks lovely when you're done. x

I'm going to risk being pelted with clods of earth here but I'd say it was too early. That said, we are knee deep in snow up here so can't even see the grass.
I am sure that the seasons have slipped by about six weeks but just pray you do not get frost...unless the gardener is going to repair the damage free of charge....?
Can you wait a few more weeks? It would be worth it and you could feed the soil meantime

jeremy, will the turf die in the frost?

Yes
Look at thiswww.thelawncentre.co.uk/grass-seed.aspx
and for preparation www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/grass.htm

I am in London and I'm waiting another month before I put turf down.
It's too early.

i am in the north and will wait a fair while yet - the quality could be compromised by a frost imo

Good advice - I'll check with them. I did ask if it was the right time of year and they said yes, so I can challenge them on that.

thanks!

Well it has been done, and I was reassured that the frost wouldn't kill the turf. I hope he's right as it's been bloody cold since it was laid.

It looks great, and so much better than the dreadful state of affairs that we used to call a lawn!

And even better, it was cheaper than I expected - £440 for the whole lot, including the initial clearance.

Mine is done too, we did it ourselves and are sooo happy with the results. The cat likes it much better than the gravel too! Heres hoping our lawns will survive the frost biwi...