How to Lay Sod Without Rototill

Water the soil deeply where you intend to lay down your sod three to fives days before you intend to prepare the soil and plant the sod. Drench the soil so that it becomes wet to at least 8 inches down.

Till up the soil with a shovel or spade to a depth of at least 6 inches. Remove stones, hard soil clumps and any plant roots that you come across. Use a rake to break apart the soil clumps and use the back of the rake to roughly level the soil again.

Amend the soil by laying down an even 2-inch layer of compost and well-aged manure in a 50:50 ratio. Cast 50 pounds of dolomitic limestone for every 1,000 square feet of sod bed.

Apply a granular lawn starter fertilizer over the top of the soil amendments. Choose a formulation with a guaranteed analysis of 10-20-10 or 18-24-6. Rake in the lime, fertilizer, manure and compost to mix with the top 6 inches of soil.

Level and lightly compact the amended soil surface with a weighted lawn roller. Water deeply using a light rain or mist setting so as not to disturb or create divots in the soil.

Unfurl the sod rolls, laying them down on the prepared soil bed, working from the center of the planting bed outward to limit foot traffic on the sod as you work. Snug each row of sod up against the previous and stagger the end seams so that you have an overlapping brick pattern.

Water the sod until soaked through after planting and run the weighted lawn roller over the sod to ensure good contact between the sod and planting surface.

Continue to water the sod lightly once or twice a day in cool climes and up to 4 times each day in hot and/or dry climes. Maintain this watering schedule for 10 days to two weeks, until the sod roots into the soil below. Scale back watering to once a day thereafter for three weeks to a month. Scale back again to once every two to three days up to six weeks after planting. At the six-week mark, begin watering deeply once every five to seven days for average moisture climates.