My neighbor said her gardener laid Augustine sod for her and instead of sprinkling a layer of dirt he used sand and said after several years of laying sod he found the roots of the new grass take better to the sand, the sand stays more moist something to that effect. He also laid the new sod right atop the old.
We were going to use a top-dressing of dirt to even out the lawn then lay the new sod. Has anyone else any tips for laying sod?
Edited to say: Learned the coolest trick on laying sod from the DIY network, AFTER we'd laid ours, LOL. Seems obvious NOW but ho hum...
Lay the perimeter with sod FIRST. It will give a crisp perfect border. Fill in with pieces of sod you'll have to cut to size as you go. WISH we'd done that!
This message was edited Apr 18, 2009 6:56 PM
Laying sod....
its a back breaking job.. make sure you take advil or something like that
BEFORE you start laying the sod and take it during the day. Come the end of the day your body will thank you..lol..I speak from experience
keep the sod wet but not soggy and out of the sun while its waiting to be put in place
Thank-you, good tip on the meds! Fortunately it's a shaded front yard that's not to large ;)
Tir, we just had some levelling of a low spot done and new sod laid and some put in places where we had to remove pines due to beetle infestation. Our landscaper put a soil/sand mixture before laying it. The stuff looked almost like azalea mix. She said the sand/soil mixture worked best becuase she'd had problems with plain sand washing away if a heavy rain comes before all the grass roots "set", plus the soil adds a bit of nutrients and helps hold moisture for the roots better than the plain sand will. I've never put any down with plain sand, so can't say for sure that this mix is better, but our new sod is taking hold really well.
Crow
Thank-you!
When's the best time to lay sod here? I see Houston Garden Centers has it for 77 cents for 16" x 24"
Much better than the 1.29 each HD has it for. Both I saw it at both places, both looked a bit brown, good enough just for a patch but I wouldn't want to begin a whole yard with it.
It's a good idea to have a few places in mind when looking for sod in Houston. ... How to Lay Sod. A Guide to Laying Sod (turf) Where to Buy Sod in Houston ...
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1489688/where_to_buy_sod.html?cat=6
I don t know much about buying sod in texas but I know you shouldnt buy it from someplace like HD or Lowes no matter where you live cause you have no idea when it was cut. Sodd should be laid with in 24 hrs of being cut. The longer the roots stay dry, the chances of it taking hold drop off. Its recomended to lay it with in 24 hrs of being cut. to keep it in the shade and keep it moist,not soggy and dont cook it by letting it sit in the sun wet!
All the places that carry sod are continuously getting new shipments in so if the stuff they have today isn't what you want, then wait a day or two.
Ann
"All the places that carry sod are continuously getting new shipments in so if the stuff they have today isn't what you want, then wait a day or two."
Ann,
that might be so but its like getting a "fresh" christmas tree..unless you cut it yourself most likely its been cut for at least a month if not longer.. we'd harvest trees starting in Late Oct for Christmas when I worked the tree farm. The store might be getting the shipment in but you have no idea how old it really is.. then add to the fact that it sits on asphaust in the sun usually with out proper care.. well.. you get the pic.. :-)
sod is expensive no matter how you get it..its a lot of work to lay it. from my own experiences I just think your better off to get the freshest you can.. Me.. I hate to have to do things over!
And it's easy enough to check the yellow pages. We called 3 places and went with the best price but they said they have workers out literally cutting grass in the evenings until midnight for the deliveries of it to be made THE NEXT DAY. Now if you need a 1/2 pallet plus there's no better price, service or delivery than a sod company. Need a few patches? Then yeah definately a store.
Thanks for all these tips folks! We're laying our new sod next weekend.
Blkraven, not to doubt what you are saying but to let you know where I'm coming from: we lived for a time toward south TX around the grass farms (such beautiful places) and often when we got on the highways we would be behind a flat bed taking the sod to market and some would fall off. All along the way you would see people stop their cars at side of the road and pick up these good sized pcs. of sod. Often we would be coming into Houston and still be behind those trucks and would watch them turn off to go to various nurseries and distribution points. That's where I got from "knowledge" from. The places that I see sod at these days are taking better care of the sod than they used to. Maybe the price has gone up or something but many times it is under shade cover, at least, and off the ground and watered like all the flowers each day. That's all I was saying.
Ann
good points ann!
Well I figure for 77 cents each, if I can spend even $10 and try just 20 SF it will be worth the money I put into it just to see.
One thing I didn't see anyone mention is laying it in a checkerboard. I've seen several people do this and it ends up filling in within a three to six month period so you could effectively get more coverage for the same money. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the finished results with my own two eyes. It was amazing!!
I used to have a huge deck off the back of my house--when I decided to change the back yard up. I used plugs in March. Completely bare soil (no weeds either, though--the deck had been there for 7 yrs and eliminated them). By July--it had completely filled in the area; you could not tell it wasn't completely sodded.
Cool!
Learned the coolest trick on laying sod from the DIY network, AFTER we'd laid ours, LOL. Seems obvious NOW but ho hum...
Lay the perimeter with sod FIRST. It will give a crisp perfect border. Fill in with pieces of sod you'll have to cut to size as you go. WISH we'd done that!