Laying Turf Onto Compost
Looking to spruce up your garden with fresh turf and want to know if you should use compost as a base?
Well, look no further- laying turf onto a mix of soil and compost can offer your lawn a fast growing, nutritional boost, but it’s important to make sure you’re preparing the ground correctly for the best results.
Ground Preparation
If you’re laying a new lawn from scratch, you’ll firstly want to remove any debris from the ground and level the lawn.
You can then incorporate your compost into the soil, aiming for around 2-3 inches coverage of compost on top of the soil.
Lightly rake the compost into the soil below, aiming for a 50/50 blend of soil and compost on the top few inches of ground.
It is important to have a mix of both soil and compost as, not only is soil a good, stable base to support healthy turf roots, but too much compost in the ground can rapidly increase the growth rate of turf, meaning that you’ll find the grass needs mowing more regularly.
Once the compost and soil mix has been blended together, you should then firm the entire area ready to lay turf on top of.
Check out our handy Ground Preparation Guide for more tips before you lay your turf.
Turf Benefits
Laying turf onto compost has numerous health benefits for your lawn.
It's a natural fertilizer, packed with nutrients for your turf to benefit from. These nutrients are organic and release slowly over time, giving your lawn a sustained boost.
Compost improves your soil’s structure, allowing sufficient airflow throughout the ground which helps water drain easily. This prevents the turf from becoming waterlogged.
Compost also retains moisture well, allowing the turf to stay hydrated for longer.
You can also use compost as a topdressing for already established lawns to give the ground underneath a boost or when you’re overseeding. This will improve germination rates and speed up the growth cycle.
DIY vs. Delivered
For an eco-friendly lawn boost, you can make your own compost mix to use as a base.
You’d need a balanced mix of 70% Brown waste (straw. cardboard, twigs) and 30% green waste (leaves, grass, kitchen scraps).
It’s a common misconception that you can only make and use compost in summer, when in fact you can compost year round.
However, if you want to make sure you’re getting a specially formulated blend that’s guaranteed to give your lawn a boost then you can invest in our Compost Packs. Available for next day delivery for a quick, easy and thriving lawn.
