We all want a lovely garden and February is the perfect time to start planning and gathering inspiration for your garden projects. At Oakley Turf Farm, we pride ourselves on being your trusted local family garden supplier, offering premium products and personalised customer service. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just starting out, we’re here to help you create a beautiful and thriving outdoor space.

Plan Your Garden with Confidence

This month, why not take some time to dream and plan your garden’s transformation? Whether you’re envisioning vibrant flower beds, a lush lawn, or a productive vegetable patch, our team is ready to support you every step of the way. With over 38 years of experience supplying gardens in Essex and Suffolk, we have the expertise and products to bring your vision to life.

February Gardening Jobs

To get your garden ready for the upcoming spring season. Begin by clearing away winter debris to make space for new growth. Use a fork to gently loosen compacted soil, which will improve aeration and drainage. Enrich the soil with compost or well-rotted manure to enhance its fertility.

To protect your prepared beds, apply a light layer of mulch this can either be a bark mulch or compost. This will help retain moisture and suppress weed growth.

Discover Our Range of Premium Products

We offer a wide range of high-quality gardening supplies to suit every project, some our below:

Topsoil:  

Your Ideal Partner for Laying Turf.

Our topsoil meets the rigorous British Standard BS3882:2015, ensuring the highest quality for your gardening needs. This premium topsoil is the perfect companion when laying Oakley Turf, as it promotes robust root establishment and maintains the turf in excellent condition.

Its easily rakeable texture makes it simple to work with, and, crucially, it is dry-stored before delivery to ensure optimal quality upon arrival at your doorstep.

Lawn Dressing:

Ideal for maintaining and levelling existing lawns, ensuring they stay lush and healthy.

Supports recovery and growth of your existing grass

Free Draining, easy to apply and won’t block or cap existing soil.

Blend of 90%‭ ‬medium and coarse‭ ‬sand with 10%‭ ‬premium topsoil.

Dry stored.

Fine Border Bark:  

Finer bark, is ideal to place in-between smaller plants and shrubs.

Can regulate soil temperature because they act as an insulating layer, helping to moderate soil temperatures, keeping it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter

Great for weed suppression, ground cover and water retention.

Top dressing is the process of adding a thin layer of material to the surface of an existing lawn or sports pitch to improve its quality and support plant and root growth.

When buying lawn dressing their are two options on offer and below we discuss both of their qualities.

Let’s begin with our Organic Lawn Dressing

Our Organic Lawn Dressing is composted entirely from recycled green matter, screened to a fine grade of 0-5mm. Organic Lawn Dress includes compostable organic materials like grass, shrubs, leaves, hedge trimmings, tree trimmings, chipped wood, flowers, and branches.

This dressing is easy to spread by hand and blends well with existing lawns. It’s perfect for golf courses, sports fields, and home lawns. With an average pH of 8.2, our Organic Lawn Dressing enhances the physical, chemical, and biological properties of your soil. It’s an ideal solution for improving the quality of your lawn, packed with natural nutrients. As a top dressing, it rejuvenates and repairs old lawns, promotes new shoot growth, and helps thicken your grass. Additionally, it improves drought resistance, contributing to an overall healthier lawn. Any leftovers can also be used as a soil improver or mulch for your garden beds and borders.

Next, let’s discuss our Lawn Dressing

Our Lawn Dressing is a high-quality, sand-based, multi-purpose dressing designed specifically for lawns. It consists of a blend of 90% medium and coarse sand and 10% premium topsoil, making it ideal for both lawn maintenance and establishment.

The medium to coarse sand in this mix helps aerate the existing soil structure, while the topsoil provides essential nutrients to support grass recovery and growth.

Our unique 90:10 formula is tailored for top dressing, with the nutrient-rich premium soil ensuring that just 10% is sufficient for optimal performance.

In contrast, other suppliers may offer a 70:30 mix because their soil requires a larger amount to achieve comparable nutrient effectiveness.

Our lawn dressing is screened to 6mm, ensuring it integrates seamlessly into your lawn without capping existing materials.

Why Use Lawn Dressing Instead of Topsoil?

Topsoil is commonly used for establishing a new lawn or planting area, providing essential nutrients to the soil. However, when it comes to maintaining and levelling an existing lawn, Lawn Dressing is the more suitable choice.

Key Differences

Topsoil:

• Ideal for creating new lawns or planting areas.
• Provides a nutrient-rich base to support plant growth.

Lawn Dressing:

• • Specifically formulated for use on existing lawns.
  • Helps in levelling out uneven areas on your lawn.
  • Enhances the soil structure and promotes healthy grass growth.

While topsoil is perfect for starting from scratch, Lawn Dressing is designed to enhance and maintain the health and appearance of your existing lawn.

Top Tip:

Use a lawn levelling rake to help spread the dressing. They are designed to distribute lawn dressing evenly, filling in low spots and smoothing out any bumps.

Finally

As climate conditions evolve, maintaining a healthy lawn requires thoughtful strategies. While various products can enhance your lawn’s vitality, they all depend on adequate moisture to be effective. At Oakley Turf Farm, we suggest investing in a quality sprinkler . A good sprinkler ensures even distribution of moisture across your lawn, significantly improving its overall hydration.

Ultimately, the choice of which lawn dressing to use in your garden is yours.

1. Weed Suppression: Groundtex membrane is excellent at preventing weed growth, ensuring your bark, mulch or decorative stones remain tidy and free from invasive plants. By blocking out sunlight, it effectively inhibits weeds.
2. Play Areas: Ideal base for play areas before laying down our Play Grade Chip, Play Grade Bark or Play Sand.
3. Soil Stabilisation: Groundtex provides crucial soil stabilisation in both soft and hard landscaping schemes.
4. Versatility: Groundtex membrane is suitable for a variety of applications, from under play areas, type 1 aggregate, sharp/angular stone and gravel including areas subject to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Its adaptability makes it a valuable addition to any garden project, large or small.

• Nutrient-Rich Composition: The compost supplies essential nutrients while the topsoil aids in moisture retention.
• Optimised for Drainage: Screened with added grit to prevent waterlogging.
• Versatile Use: Perfectly suited for raised bed gardening.
• Long-Lasting: Dry stored for enhanced longevity.

• Expert Craftsmanship: Handmade in the UK by skilled joiners.
• High-Quality Materials: Built from dry wood and protected with premium wood preservative.
• Quality Assurance: Undergoes pre-shipment inspection for guaranteed satisfaction.
• Elegant Design: Features a stunning appearance with a ready-made liner inside.
• Can be shipped throughout the UK

If your looking to enhance your raised beds, we have the perfect partner for  them.  We’re excited to share with you why our Raised Bed Soil Mix is the ultimate choice for your gardening needs.

Our Raised Bed Soil Mix is screened down to 10mm which makes it easily rakeble, it also has added grit for drainage. It has the perfect combination of 70% topsoil and 30% compost, plus its dry stored all year round!

Nutrient-Rich Composition

Our Raised Bed Soil Mix is designed to provide your plants with the essential nutrients they need to thrive. Packed with a balanced blend of organic matter, it supports robust plant growth and high yields.

Optimal Drainage

Good drainage is crucial for healthy plants, and our soil mix ensures just that. The combination of the topsoil and compost  prevents waterlogging, which can harm roots, by allowing excess water to drain away while retaining enough moisture for plant needs.

Improved Soil Structure

The mix enhances the soil structure within your raised beds, providing a stable environment for root development. This stability helps your plants establish a strong foundation, leading to healthier and more productive growth.

Versatile Usage

Whether you’re growing vegetables, herbs, or flowers, our Raised Bed Soil Mix is versatile enough to accommodate a wide variety of plants. It’s crafted to meet the diverse needs of your garden, making it an all-in-one solution.

Laying a new lawn is  an exciting challenge as you will be able to see the benefits it will bring to your outside area.  Here at Oakley Turf Farm we want you to help you on your way.

Below is 2 big rules to follow before you order turf.

1) First of all make sure to order your turf for the day you are ready to lay it.

We advise all of our customers to ensure the ground is prepared or in the process of being prepared for when the turf is delivered.

Our turf is harvested directly from the field and delivered straight to your garden. The sooner your turf is laid, the quicker it can start rooting into its new home!

2) We also advise our customers to ensure they have a watering system in place. To properly water your turf, it’s important to use a sprinkler instead of relying solely on a hose or spray nozzle.

For more in depth advice please take a look guides below

https://www.oakleyturf.com/garden-advice/how-to-lay-turf/

https://www.oakleyturf.com/garden-advice/10-steps-for-watering-newly-laid-turf/

If you have any turf questions, please email them to us at turf@oakleyturf.com – our experts will be able to help you!

If you’re planning on a new children’s play area or planting area in your garden. Did you know you are starting your little ones on a nature journey?

You are setting out to create a safe and sometimes peaceful place in a natural environment where your children or grandchildren can enjoy themselves and explore the outdoors.

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If you have the room, we will always advise you to section off an area that can be dedicated to the children’s swings, slides, or climbing frame, etc.

✅ Top Tip – We would recommend putting a membrane down first as this will help to suppress weeds and makes the area less muddy in wetter conditions.

Then add our Play Grade Bark or Play Grade Chip on top.

A lot of our customers ask us what the difference between our play grade chip and play grade bark is. Well it’s quite simple really: as the name suggests our play grade bark is from the outside of the tree (bark) and our play grade chip is from the inside of the tree.

This means our play grade chip can also be used on pathways or for mulching.

Our Play Grade Bark is ideal, for the customer who is looking for a more natural colour.

As always, our Play Grade Bark and Chips are all certified to British Standard BS EN 1177:2008.

If your little ones our eager to start planting we supply an amazing raised bed soil mix. It is great for when it comes to introducing the wonders of gardening to young minds. Our mix has the perfect blend of topsoil and compost for little hands eager to delve into the world of gardening, whether they’re potting up their first plant or helping to tend a raised bed.

The mix promotes healthy root development and robust plant growth, offering a rewarding gardening experience. By using our soil mix, kids not only learn about the importance of taking care of the environment but also gain a sense of achievement as they watch their plants grow. It’s a wonderful way to introduce them to the responsibilities and joys of gardening, all while using a product that’s safe, reliable.

If you have any questions on any of our products, please do not hesitate getting in contact with us via turf@oakleyturf.com.