If it's not stable roll it, if you have a roller, or walk up and down on it. If any serious differences of level appear fill them with soil. That should also crush the young grass a bit and serve instead of a mow.
location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand. "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
I do have access to a roller which I could use. I just wasn’t sure if it was best to give it another few weeks to root in, or if it’s better to just roll it now…
@matthewroche do the tug test. Grab a handful of grass blades and gently pull. Do this over your whole lawn in various sections. If you feel resistance your lawn has rooted and you can mow.
@matthewroche if it’s not moving when you do the tug test then it means that the turf has rooted. So you can mow your lawn. Don’t cut it too low. No more than 20% of it’s height.
If it sinks underfoot (not just the grass but the soil underneath) then maybe the soil wasn't firmed properly before laying the turf. It should have been trodden down all over with the heels. Now it's down, I guess all you can do is try to roll/tread it down evenly.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Yes it wasn’t really compacted. I’d read that you shouldn’t compact the soil as roots would struggle to penetrate, and the previous soil that was there was really poor.
With that in mind I thought loose top soil would have been better but now I’m not so sure - I guess I will have to roll it and hope it works 🤞🏻
The soil has to be firmed in and then raked/levelled a couple of times before turfing or sowing seed. I'm not sure where you've read otherwise, but it sounds as if that's the problem. Not much you can do, but the mower might help firm it down, and - worst case scenario, you can fill in any dips/hollows and seed over [if you can get a reasonably matching seed] or - if the dips aren't too great, the grass will grow through any additional soil.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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"Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
With that in mind I thought loose top soil would have been better but now I’m not so sure - I guess I will have to roll it and hope it works 🤞🏻
Not much you can do, but the mower might help firm it down, and - worst case scenario, you can fill in any dips/hollows and seed over [if you can get a reasonably matching seed] or - if the dips aren't too great, the grass will grow through any additional soil.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I’m going to try with the roller, then give it a cut. Sounds like there’s not much else I can do at this stage.