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Rolawn

20% off Turf & Lawn Seeding Topsoil... ...when you buy Medallion or Biodiverse Turf

Preparing to lay turf

New turf grows best when the topsoil is prepared to encourage deep, rapid rooting. Unfortunately, just buying excellent quality turf is not enough to ensure a beautiful lawn so you must prepare your soil well. Poor soil and poor soil preparation will cause the turf to decline and may even cause it to perish. Mixing in a pre-turfing fertiliser and watering your soil prior to laying the turf will ensure successful establishment.
Rolawn Turf & Lawn Seeding Topsoil provides the ideal base on which to lay turf. It is blended with Rolawn GroRight® Lawn Establisment Fertiliser to help ensure a lawn gets the best possible start.

Alternatively, Rolawn Soil Improver can be used to enhance existing soil.

Read our guide on how to lay lawn turf.

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How much turf should I order?

  1. Draw a sketch of the area you want to lay turf on to, following our measurement guide.
  2. Draw rectangles over your sketch (they should not overlap). Do this even if your lawn is a circular or oval shape.
  3. Whilst standing in the area due to be turfed, mark out the corners of your rectangles on the ground. In the case of an irregularly shaped lawn, adapt the rectangles as closely as possible to the shape of the lawn.
  4. Measure and record on your sketch, the lengths and widths of all your rectangles.
  5. Calculate the area of each rectangle: length (metres) X width (metres) = area (sq. metres).
  6. Add the areas of all rectangles. This is approximately the amount of turf you will need.
  7. Add 5% extra for shaping, cutting, waste etc. Use our Turf Calculator to help you work out how much you need.

How to prepare soil for new turf

Your soil should be turned over or cultivated to at least 100mm deep, ideally 150mm. It is best to do this when the soil is fairly dry. Rake over to obtain a fine tilth. This will ensure good contact with the turf when it is laid. ‘Heel’ in well and repeat 2 or 3 times.

  1. Apply a base starter fertiliser to the soil. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions. As a general guide, look for a fertiliser containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, for example, a 7:7:7 formulated fertiliser. Rolawn GroRight® Lawn Establishment Fertiliser is ideal. Rake or till the fertiliser into the top 25mm of the soil.
  2. Rake the soil smooth and remove all stones and other debris (greater than 6mm) and any perennial weeds.
  3. Two days before the turf is to arrive, water the soil to a depth of 75mm to make the soil moist.
Raking topsoil - preparing to lay turf

Further guidance

Further lawn care advice can be found in our Information Centre. You can also sign up for lawn tips to receive regular lawn care advice, news and promotional offers by email which will help you get the best from your lawn.

For more techniques to help you establish a healthy lawn, explore our other lawn preparation advice pages.

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You can also sign up to our newsletter to receive free seasonal lawn care advice and reminders of essential maintenance, as well as general horticultural advice and special offers from Rolawn.

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Important update: Temporary 6.5% surcharge effective 7 April 

At Rolawn, we are committed to maintaining the high standards of quality and service our customers expect, so we want to be open with our customers about a change that will affect pricing from Tuesday 7th April. 

This decision has been taken in response to disruption to energy supplies, which has led to significant increases in wholesale prices, affecting not only fuel and fertiliser but also costs throughout our wider supply chain. As a business that relies heavily on fuel for both transport and operations, these sustained cost pressures have become increasingly difficult to absorb.  

While we have worked hard to mitigate the impact, the scale and pace of recent price increases have now exceeded what we can sustain internally, and we therefore need to recover a proportion of these externally driven increases. 

From Tuesday 7th April, a temporary 6.5% surcharge will apply to all products.  

We know that any increase in price is frustrating, particularly at a time when many businesses and households are already feeling under pressure. That is why we want to be clear that this is not a decision we have made lightly, and not one we wanted to make. It has been introduced solely to help offset unavoidable cost inflation and allow us to continue delivering the quality, reliability and service standards associated with Rolawn. 

We will continue to monitor market conditions closely and will review this surcharge as soon as circumstances allow, providing reasonable notice of any changes. We recognise that any price increase is unwelcome, but this step is necessary to ensure the continuity and reliability of our operations during a period of ongoing uncertainty. 

We remain committed to providing the quality, reliability and service standards you expect from Rolawn, and we truly appreciate your understanding and continued support. 

If you have any questions, please contact our customer support team who will be happy to help.