Trick for a quick new lawn: a lawn sandwich

Grass sandwich: New grass placed on top of the old

Wouldn’t it be easier to put a new layer of turf directly on top of the old one? What seems unprofessional has long been proven to be appropriate in tests, as practical tests carried out by the Land Management Department of the Bavarian State Institute for Viticulture and Horticulture (LWG) Veitshöchheim / D already in 2008 showed.

Provided there is no soil compaction or other soil-related problems, a ‘turf sandwich’ appears to be a simple solution – no complicated tillage: the existing lawn (15mm) is mowed, leveled with sand or fine topsoil and a new single layer of turf is covered.

Experimental plots, where only the existing lawn was mowed and covered with rolled turf, presented themselves visually equal to or better than traditional lawns. Thanks to the rapid rooting with old lawn grass, the sandwich lawn can be fully loaded even earlier.

During the tests, it turned out that only the unclean tracks were the weak spots in the doubled-up turf area—wild weeds from the lower turf could penetrate the new base layer of turf into the gaps. Therefore, the motto is: avoid knuckles!