Turfing and new lawns in Ashtead and Surrey
A new lawn laid on ground prepared properly, so it takes and stays flat.
We lay new lawns across Ashtead, Leatherhead, Epsom, Fetcham, Great Bookham, Tadworth and the villages around them. A whole garden turfed from bare soil, a tired lawn stripped and replaced, or a worn patch made good.
Turf itself is the easy part and the cheap part. What decides whether a lawn takes is what happens before it goes down: the old grass and roots off, the ground broken up rather than skimmed, the levels right, stones out, and a bed of decent topsoil raked and firmed so there are no soft spots to sink later. Turf laid on unprepared ground goes yellow at the joints within a fortnight and stays lumpy for years.
We take the old lawn away with us, lay the turf the same day it is delivered so it never sits rolled up drying out, and tell you exactly what watering it needs in the first three weeks — which is the other half of whether a new lawn works.
What laying a lawn involves
- The old lawn or vegetation stripped off and taken away
- Ground broken up, levelled and any drainage problems pointed out before we start
- Stones and roots raked out, and fresh topsoil brought in where it is needed
- The bed firmed and raked level, so the lawn does not settle into dips
- Fresh turf laid the day it arrives, joints staggered and tight
- Edges cut cleanly to the beds, path or patio
- Worn or patchy areas repaired without redoing the whole lawn, where that is the sensible option
- All the old turf and spoil taken away — we are a registered waste carrier
Lawns we have laid
What customers said
Finch did a great job transforming our front and back gardens. He was very hard working, professional and polite. Thank you Finch. Highly recommend!
Finch arrived on time and worked extremely hard to start tackling the weeds that are currently running riot in the garden. He put down some grass seed on some bald patches in the lawn and started putting in flower bed borders.
We can highly recommend Finch's gardening services. It's a pleasure to come home after work and see a neat and tidy garden! Totally rely on him to sort out all my gardening needs.
What it costs
Turfing is priced per job. The turf is rarely the biggest part of the bill — what moves the price is how much has to come off first, whether the levels need correcting, how much topsoil has to be brought in, and whether a barrow can get to the back garden.
We measure it, work out the preparation honestly, and give you a fixed price in writing covering turf, topsoil and labour.
If your lawn is thin rather than finished, say so. Scarifying, feeding and over-seeding will sometimes bring a lawn back for a fraction of what returfing costs, and we would rather tell you that in the first visit.
Questions about new lawns
Autumn is ideal — the ground is still warm, the rain does the watering for you, and the lawn roots before winter. Spring is the next best. Turf can be laid at almost any time of year, but it should not go down on frozen or waterlogged ground, and a lawn laid in high summer needs watering every single day until it roots, which is a real commitment. If you are not in a hurry, wait for September.
Turf gives you a lawn the same day and can be walked on within weeks; seed costs a good deal less but takes a season to look like anything and is at the mercy of birds, weather and weeds. For a front garden or anywhere you want to look finished, turf. For a big area at the back where you can be patient, seed is worth considering and we will say so.
Keep off it entirely for the first two to three weeks. After that, light use is fine once it has rooted — lift a corner gently and if it resists, it has taken. Give it a good six weeks before children and dogs are properly let loose on it.
More than most people expect, and this is the single most common reason a new lawn fails. It wants a thorough soaking every day for the first two to three weeks unless it is genuinely raining — enough to wet the soil beneath the turf, not just the grass. Sprinkling it for five minutes is worse than useless. We will tell you what yours needs before we leave.
Often, yes. Bare patches can be cut out and re-turfed to match, and a thin lawn can frequently be recovered by scarifying, feeding and over-seeding. It is worth having us look before deciding to replace the lot — replacing a lawn that only needed feeding is money you do not need to spend.
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Based in Ashtead, covering Leatherhead, Epsom, Tadworth, Fetcham, Great Bookham and surrounding areas.