Laying Sod - Woodpecker Project

In this post, I would like to show you some before and after photos of a landscaping project we worked on. Specifically, we will look at the installation of the lawns.

Before we began, the 'garden' was a bit of a wasteland. 

Most of the work had just been completed in the house, but nothing really done outside.

The only planting was of waste building materials or the odd tool!

We purchased some excellent black soil for this project. This was needed if we were going to end up with a nice garden, because you could call the existing earth 'stones, with a bit of soil mixed in'.

I had designed an irrigation system for the entire property.

We decided to lay all of the piping before adding the black soil.

As you can see, I am not joking about the stones.

6" of soil solved this problem.  

The depth of soil was sufficient for small plants and soil. Any large plants would require deeper holes dug and a good amount of black soil placed during planting.

The black soil was carted around with wheelbarrow - not a quick job, considering the amount we used.

The sod itself comes in rolls of around 1 square meter. We were very happy with what arrived, it had been cut well, and had good roots.

We wanted to lay it as quickly as possible, so that it would not suffer out in the sun.

It was a little patchy when it was first laid, but it would soon turn all the same colour.

We kept the new grass irrigated well for a few days, so that it had chance to settle in.

At that time of year, it could get very warm and dry, so this was very important. 

Some rolling was required in a few places.

The client wanted a grass border around this bed.

The front and sides of the house were also turfed.

We had split the front section between the driveway into two different levels to accommodate and difference in elevation.

We added some beds, and made a feature of a large rock.

The local rocks were again used here to form the beds.

The newly laid grass was quickly taking hold whilst we were working on other parts of this project.

The irrigation system was set up with a control box, which was configured to come on automatically, ensuring everything stayed healthy.

Early planting could begin once the turf was all finished.

The planting beds broke up the front bed quite well.

The client continues to add plants to this garden. There probably a few hundred plants flourishing here now.