On 8/8/2014 1:52 PM, Bert wrote:
[I've never dealt with sod before]

The city just sodded the strip between our front sidewalk and the curb
and the part of our front lawn that they destroyed while working on our
street.

They're coming by twice a day to water the sod, but I suppose they'll
stop doing that in a while.

Once the city stops, how often and for how long should I be watering?

Rule of thumb is an inch of water a week. Subtract any rainfall from
that amount, and you then know how much to add on a weekly basis. How
often depends on the weather. If it stays cooler than normal, probably
watering every 4-5 days will do. If it gets warm and/or windy, you
will have to water more often. Until the grass roots grow and knit
down into the soil, it will dry out easily. As for how long, I'd check
on the root growth after 2-3 weeks and see how it's going. Just grab a
section and pull. If it lifts up easily, it hasn't knit down into the
soil yet. Once it has, you can taper the frequency of watering to one
good watering a week as needed (when rainfall isn't sufficient).

In a normal year, we'd be almost in our meteorological autumn here in
Minnesota. By mid-August, average temperatures decrease and the
regular rainfalls return. It has run cooler than average so far this
year, but we'll have to wait and see if the rains come, or if we'll
end up with another long dry autumn. If we do, keep watering regularly
all the way to frost.

OK to walk on it, or terrible mistake to do so?

Do you mean: walk on it to flatten it like the roller would have, or
simply, can you walk on it at all? It's best not to walk on newly-laid
sod if you can avoid it.
It doesn't have to be rolled.


Anything I can or must do to have a chance of this stuff taking?


The very best time to fertilize it was just before it was laid. Had a
new lawn fertilizer been applied to the soil prior to the sod going
down, it would have significantly shortened the time needed for the
sod to establish. Phosphorus does not move downward into the soil very
quickly, so applying a starter fertilizer to the sod now won't do much
for the roots. Can't hurt, just won't help all that much. The best
thing you can do is not let it dry out.