Can you lay turf in winter? Yes. Turf can be installed and laid in Winter and during colder months except when you’re attempting to lay it on frozen ground. It’s a very common misunderstanding that you shouldn’t install turf in Winter, it’s just a little trickier, but not impossible.
In actual fact, there are a number of benefits to laying turf in Winter – the main thing you need to do is be ready and full prepared for a lot of work and graft. So roll up those sleeves and let’s get stuck into it.
Here’s what to consider and how you should lay new turf in Winter and what to do after:
- Prepare the ground thoroughly
- Have a plan for watering your turf
- Avoid walking on it when its frozen
- Handle the turf with care when laying
- Install the right type of turf
Preparing the ground for turf in cold months
So how do you prepare the soil and ground when you’re looking to lay turf in the colder months? Typically turf gets installed in Spring and early to mid Autumn. The main reasons for this is because its generally a lot easier to prepare the ground when its less likely to be frozen. However, it is possible and there are a couple of things you need to do. These are:
- Assessing the soil and grounds current condition – Before laying the turf, assess the current situation and condition of the soil. You’re doing this for a couple of reasons, but mainly to assess the existing drainage – you want this to be damp, but not waterlogged or pooled together. You’ll also want to make sure that the ground isn’t frozen as your turf won’t be able to establish within the frozen soil.
- Preparing it if it is slightly waterlogged – If the soil is slightly flooded and is carrying too much water you can still lay your turf. However, you’ll need to take the time to treat it and mix in some dry topsoil and potentially even some soil conditioner to give it the best chance of helping your new grass establish and take. When preparing your soil you want it to be crumbly in texture and not too compact.
How will frost affect my turf?
During these months, naturally temperatures tend to drop quite drastically which then leaves your garden and lawn vulnerable to freezing and frost in the early mornings. So if you are going to lay turf in the winter, you need to have a plan in place to maintain your grass when frost inevitably arrives.
So what do you need to do to protect your turf from frost? Well, nothing really as frost won’t cause any long-term damage.
It isn’t going to cause harm to your turf – the best way we can describe it is if you where to make a proper winter warmer of a casserole and then pop it in the freezer, and then getting it back out to defrost a couple of days later. The food itself is absolutely fine and in most cases ends up being that little bit better!
Despite this, there is a time to lay in Winter and you need to avoid doing it if the ground is frozen otherwise newly laid turf won’t survive and you’ll end up back at square one.
Considerations to be aware of when laying turf in winter
So by now, hopefully you’re realising that there isn’t anything wrong with laying in these colder months, just as there isn’t anything wrong with planting new plants ahead of the new year and Spring. So now you’re convinced that winter is a good a time as any, you’re planning to lay your new lawn.
There are a couple of additional things you should consider:
- Laying turf during the winter may sound like the perfect time because its lower in terms of ongoing maintenance. Wrong. It may well require far less watering than if you were to lay in the summer months, but on drier, and potentially windy days you need to make sure that the turf rolls don’t dry out. You want to keep the rolls moist, but not wet.
- Once the turf is laid don’t be tempted to walk on it right away. You should wait at least 3 weeks before walking on your lawn. If you start walking on turf when its frozen, it can cause long-lasting damage and potentially ruin your lawn.
- If you’ve had frozen turf rolls delivered, this isn’t an issue, nor will it damage your turf. You will however, need to give the turf time to defrost thoroughly. Even after it’s defrosted, it will be very damp so when you’re carrying it from the delivery pallet, handle it carefully and do your best not to rip or tear it. If it does get damaged, the damp winter conditions present the perfect opportunity to repair it by carefully pressing the rolls together – this will allow your turf time to settle and give you a well established lawn.
Benefits of installing turf in the winter months
Have we convinced you yet that winter is a good time of year to lay? No? OK well, let’s get into some of the great benefits of laying lawn turf in winter.
Come Spring your lawn will be fully established
By taking the time to order your turf during the winter months, you already have a head start on those Spring lawn care jobs. Just because you’ve ordered your grass ahead of winter, doesn’t mean it needs to sit there dormant or remain frozen and thawed out until you’re ready to use it.
By laying in winter, you give your grass more time, with less maintenance to establish and develop some really strong roots which will give you time back to work on other tasks in your garden.
Stronger root development
The roots in your grass will be able to establish and grown much stronger as its had more time to settle and root down in cooler conditions. Whereas, if you were to install in the warmer months, you’d need to spend a lot more time maintaining and watering your grass to prevent it from dehydrating and drying out.
Less maintenance
The biggest plus when it comes to winter lawn care and installation is that there isn’t the importance or need to water it as frequently as the natural conditions are usually enough to keep it healthy until the new year. This doesn’t mean you neglect your grass, you still need to keep an eye on it and make sure its not getting too much moisture, but installing turf in winter is definitely the best time of the year to lay turf if you want to keep maintenance to a minimum.
How to look after your turf after laying in winter
So now that you’ve recently laid new turf, how do you look after it to make sure it looks great all year round?
Granted, there is a lot less work involved with maintaining turf when its been laid in the winter. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t need to be maintained at all. You still need to consider things like – how often should I cut my lawn in winter? Does it need to be watered? Does it need to be fed?
The answer to all of those questions is… it depends.
- Mowing in Winter – Under normal conditions, you don’t need to mow your lawn. However, the UK does tend to throw up some random weather conditions from time to time, so if the temperatures are a little milder and the turf is continuing to grow you should mow it – but keep the height of your lawn mower high and avoid mowing completely if the ground is wet or waterlogged.
- Watering after turf has been laid – The weather conditions and general moisture from November onwards tend to be enough so there’s usually no need to water your turf. This is because the grass growth slows down dramatically at this time of the year.
What turf is best to install?
If you’re sold on laying in winter then the next step is knowing what the best winter turf is to install. Fortunately, we can help you here.
The conditions are going to be harder for your grass so your turf is going to take longer to establish, which is perfectly normal. In which case, you want a product that is hardy and tolerant to winter conditions such as additional moisture, water logging and frost.
For this reason the best turf and what we recommend laying is our VALIDUS RTF Turf. The VALIDUS is a Rhizomatous Tall Fescue which is a sturdy, self-repairing grass that produces a thick and even lawn that’s going to stay vibrant in colour all year round and thrive in wintery conditions as well as the hotter and drier summer months.
Summary
So then, is winter the best time to lay turf and can you lay turf in winter? Well it’s as good as any time in our opinion. Whilst the most popular time of the year remains to be Spring and early Autumn, winter creates an ideal environment for turf to flourish unless the ground is frozen.
It requires much less maintenance and isn’t going to impact the quality of your lawn or cause any long term damage.
If you’re looking to buy turf, or even artificial grass, we have a great selection of products available at competitive prices.
