I’ve explained how we prepared the soil to resod the lawn in my post, “When weeds took over“. I was closely following the weather forecast. I gave the order for the ready sod rolls from a sod farm, Central Sod Farm, for the first sunny day I spotted. Based on my research, sod farms, instead of Home Depot or Lowe’s, was the best way to go. We confirmed that by experience as well. We could not lay the sod right ahead, as we needed to attend a birthday party, but the weather was cool enough to keep the sods fresh until next morning. We received them on Saturday.
On Sunday morning, my husband and a close friend of ours, started by flattening the soil with a wide rake and compacting it with a roller 1/3 filled with water. Two “civil engineers” attending our project leveled the soil with the proper inclination away from the house.
We spread the starter fertilizer.
Then we started laying with the first row of sod. We made sure there were no gaps between sod rolls. Kids helped a lot. Can you spot the “Star Wars rain boots“?
After the first roll, things went pretty quickly with occasional cutting at the sides.
The proper way to grab and move the sod is to grab from the top grass as if grabbing hair and move it with shaking action.
As we’re about the finish the last row, birds are still searching for worms.
We pressed the sods with the roller completely filled with water. Then we watered the grass. Luckily, we had quite a bit of rainy days after we laid the sod. The most important part is to keep the soil of the sod wet and not let it dry for 2 weeks.
Rain for 10 days after the sods been laid was perfect timing. The weather was warm enough. You can see the grass, 10 days after we laid it. The lines between the sod patches are almost invisible now.
Mama penguin enjoying her fresh lawn.
Preparing the soil and laying the sod took a lot of effort but it was definitely worth it. When I was ordering the sod from the Central Sod Farm, I told the lady I was talking to, that I was doing this alone by myself and asked her to send us the freshest sods available without any disease or grubs. And she did. I was really happy with the quality of the grass, the service as well as the price we got from Central Sod Farm. God knows what low quality grass a landscaper would get in order to get it at a cheaper cost.
We actually had purchased more rolls than we needed for the backyard. So we laid new sod the front lawn as well. However were missing for a small space so my husband went to Home Depot to buy 6 additional rolls. The difference between the rolls from Central Sod Farm, and Home Depot was like day and night. Eventually, some parts of the grass – from HD – dried out during the summer.
Laying the sod rolls was the easier part. The harder part was removing the old grass and preparing the soil. To be able to enjoy the grass with bare feet, it’s all worth it.
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