Proper Lawn Construction
San Tan Landscape has the professional expertise that will design or redesign a beautiful lawn area into your landscape.  Proper construction of a lawn is vital. Our experienced crew and our professional turf equipment will assure that your lawn installation will be a success from start to finish.   

The turf installation questions below should be considered before starting construction.  Let San Tan Landscape help take care of all these questions for you.    

• Do you have a Design or redesign plan of your lawn area?
• Do you have an irrigation plan for watering your lawn?
• Do you have the proper drainage and grading?
• Have you conditioned the soil properly?
• Are you going to Install mowing strips along the perimeter?
• Did you choose the right grass to grow for your climate? 
• Are you planting your grass during the proper season?
• How are you planting the grass?  (Seed, Sod, plugs or sprigs)
• Do you know the correct height to mow your lawn the first time? 

There are typically four installation methods:

• Seeding     -  seed applied by spreader or hydroseeder                            
• Sodding     -  established turf that is moved from one location to another
• Plugging    -  live growing grass cut into 2" plugs placed into an existing lawn
• Sprigging   -  little sections of established lawn which are pulled apart and 
                        scattered on the ground, rolled, and top dressing applied.

Should I use Grass Seed or Sod?  (Two most common plantings)

Grass Seed
There are technically two ways of establishing a lawn by grass seed: 

1. Spreader - On smaller sites, a spreader is used to evenly spread the seed.  The same spreader is then used to fertilize after the seed is applied.  A roller "cage" spreader is then used to distribute the top soil evenly over the seed and fertilizer. 
2. Hydroseeder - On larger sites a hydroseeder (spraying device that applies seed, water, fertilizer, and mulch at the same time) may be used.  The hydroseeder is especially helpful for seeding sloped or uneven areas.   

Grass Seed Advantages / Disadvantages

• Requires a great deal of work to install
• Much less expensive to plant
• Takes more time to create a seeded lawn
• Daily watering is required up to 4 weeks
• Takes several weeks of keeping the ground moist
• Takes several weeks of keeping the ground weed-free
• Seed should be planted during the Spring

Sod
When a lawn is wanted immediately, then using sod would be the method of installation.  Sod is an established turf grown especially for the purpose of moving from one location to another.  A sod cutter removes the growing turf by cutting it into strips along with a thin layer of soil.  These strips are then lifted, rolled up, and placed onto pallets for transport to the site.   At the new site, the sod is then unrolled and laid in place onto the conditioned soil bed.

Sod Advantages / Disadvantages

• Easy installation
• More expensive than seed
• Gives you a lush green lawn immediately
• Needs very little care to establish itself
• Sod must have constant waterings
• Don't need to fight weeds
• Can be planted in almost any season