Am I watering my new lawn enough?

Doused? What does that mean? Are you walking around spraying with the hose? Don't water when the lawn is in bright sun - water when its off the grass ,preferably at the end of the day, with a sprinkler, 20 minutes each section. That should see it alright for a couple of days or more, unless we've got a lot of sun, no rain and, more importantly, lots of wind - wind will dry out the turves as quickly as the sun will. If the weather turns cool, cloudy and it rains, then just keep an eye on how damp it is outside, and if you're worried, water as suggested here every 5 days for the first six weeks.

I don't have a sprinkler (yet) and the watering has been by hand via a rose attachment on a hosepipe, watering each section by hand for less than 20 minutes but the amount of water in each section will be greater I think because of a more direct application, if you see what I mean. Not ideal, I know, but my garden is very small.

Lifting the turf it is damp and cool underneath.

Interesting you say about wind as it is hot, sunny and with a strong brease today.

It's in full sun at the moment so I guess I should not water until later.

You are doing fine just dont keep lifting it The way you are watering is the way I watered my turf when it was laid, watering well every evening for a week then alternate days for about a week and then about every 5 days till I felt it was ok you get a feel for it dont mow it for a month and then a high cut. good luck it will be ok

Thanks for the advice.

If you have a small garden and you want to buy a sprinkler, buy one of the small, spike type, they're only about £6 or £7 - they just shoot the water up in the air and it lands on the area, without moving at all. You can stick the spike in a pot so you don't make a hole in the lawn, and if its as small as you say, you may only need to water one area, because it covers the lot! Good luck with it.

Even if it does rain, it may still need water as the rain may not penetrate it deep eonough.

dont water in sun it can burn and dont walk on your new lawn till it roots to ground and has settled down

Thanks everyone. Since laying the lawn on Saturday the weather has cooled down a bit after peaking on Saturday. I've continued with watering (in the evening) and it's looking OK. A few edges got a bit dried out but I can see they are already recovering.

As for mowing the lawn, I'm reading that a short cut mow should be attempted after one week to encourage further growth. Seems a bit soon to me?

my friend just had a new lawn and the guy who laid it said a couple of weeks to be sure, and plenty of watering

Depends if its grown or not - if it gets to six or seven inches long, then give it a bit of a mow.

Your new lawn is wet and mowing/treading in the first weeks can cause damage and squash it and the edges. It will not come to any harm to leave it till its quite long as bamboo said ( I mow new turfs after a month so its not that long). Watering is the most important bit so that the turfs do not dry out. I bet you are doing it fine but its like a new baby the next time is easier.

Leave it 3 or 4 weeks and then cut it high a few times then the nect cut lower, etc

As you all said! bamboo and Drc!