Laying turf on REALLY hard ground

[KakulasSister]

Our house faces council maintained grass which is in a sorry state and bald in places. A neighbour has just offered me leftover turf which would be fab however I've been googling and it says to dig up earth by 15 cm before laying new grass/turf. I physically can't do that.

Is there any other way of making this work?

I have just laid some turf, ground was really hard and I struggled to turn it over. I did saturate the soil which helped a bit. I then got a couple of bags of earth and some fertiliser pellets and put that down and laid the grass on top. Water the grass loads every day and hope for the best. Mine is still looking alive a week later but time will tell..

That's given me some hope @Rocketpants50

You're planning to put the turf on the council-maintained area?

If so, they won't maintain it any better than the existing grass. So either it will end up in the same condition or you will need to maintain it. And if you're planning to do that, it would be easier just to look after the grass that's already there.

Yes.

I know they won't maintain it. We are maintaining it as best we can.