Start by unrolling your turf along a straight edge such as a driveway or a patio, one at a time, end to end.  Try to avoid standing on the turf as you lay it and rake out areas of soil that are trodden down before laying the next section.  Straighten out any wrinkles and pat the strips down so that good contact is made between roots and soil.  Use whole pieces at this stage, reserving smaller pieces to tuck into gaps where all edges will touch other sod pieces. 

Cut the next piece of turf in half before you lay the second row and stagger the joints as you would with laying bricks.  Use your hose pipe to lay a curve and slice the turf with a lawn edging tool – a carpet knife is great for cutting openings around trees or other obstacles.

The seams should meet comfortably – push your thumbs along the edges to ensure that there are no air-pockets or areas of bare soil showing between the rows. Use a broom to brush topsoil or potting soil across the seams taking care not to lift loose turf edges.

Rolling the lawn after it is laid ensures that turf is well-bedded and the roots knit quickly with the soil. For the first three weeks while it’s establishing, limit traffic over the area, including pets and children.

Once installed, water your grass thoroughly, and continue to water daily for the first week unless it rains.  Don’t allow puddles to form and reduce watering to every second day after the first week, which encourages good root-growth.   A deeply-rooted lawn is a healthy lawn.  Water only twice in the third week and from week four, allow roughly 25mm penetration of water per week through irrigation or rainfall.