Laying Turf should be done in early Autumn or spring...ours was done in september and i thought i would add pictures on how ours was done. Before my hubby started laying the turf all rubbish and any rooting's from tree's was totally removed and then raked level. Then he made a wooden level to hit the soil totally flat and level. Then the ground was watered at the night to make the dirt nice and fresh to bond with the turf. Then he started laying it but also got a blank of wood to make sure the turf was going down level and also using the wooden level on the joining of the turf. The final finish of the lawn after being watered slightly.
As you can see by the picture below where the dog started ripping at the lawn, so hubby made a centre piece and moved the turf to another area, then he started on another part and it got bad for 2yrs and in the end my hubby put decking around the edging of the slabs, the lawn was covered twice over with weed protection liner cover and then 3 tone of heavier gravel went down...such a shame Now totally gravelled.
Thanks Eileen i'm being honest it took me some time to get used to it..i kept thinking it looked baron but when winter comes getting the leaves up it's easy, you just sweep the gravel and it soon clears, the same with the front but the leaves on the front usually blow long the path change direct and go in to the corner of the fencing which helps a great deal....to think Eileen those were the other 5 bottle brushes I lost.
With small area like yours and mine, it's virtually impossible to maintain a lawn when you've dogs and/or kids. Mine suffers with moss every spring as our planting in the long border, the party fence, our summer house and next door's trees give a lot of shade. It takes until mid-summer to recover, even though I rarely walk on it, as we have a path down to the summer-house. You've taken the best option