Growing a great lawn

[DaveR]

I may be able to help you out a bit.
But first, what is the soil like beneath, does it hold water? Does it hold too much?
If it is hard soil, it could use a run over with the spike drum jobby you can hire cheaply for the morning, then a top dress of the premium stuff. Give it at least an inch worth.
Before hand, you need to give it a high cut.

If you don't wish to go to that much trouble, call into the 1 place on the Coast who does know what they are talking about, these are the folk the green keepers all go to.
Globe Australia Pty Ltd.
3/53 Lawrence Dr (they front Recreation drive)
Nerang QLD
(07) 5578 4400

Can you put a pic up and perhaps can help from that a bit more.

[Mallory Black]

While mine in the first pic looks OK here the bulk of the turf is "Green couch" otherwise known as builders turf cos it's cheap at $5 sqm.
Trouble is unless it gets fed heaps the blades don't have a lot of green on the,. Mow 1 setting too low and it looks scalped. ANd it can't stand up to wear very well either.
And it can't stand up to dog piss very well but I liked that problem by building a run down one side and letting vines grow up and around it.

So this summer I'm going to oversow with blue couch because it looks better, mows better, needs less food etc and hopefully it'll out compete the green couch.
Lucky to live in Brissy so blue couch manages to survive the winter OK.

My mum & dad (2nd pic) had a type of buffalo (not Sir Walter) which is really green except it grows like crazy in the Summer but it deals with shade and moisture really well.
So the best thing is to work out what use you want to give your yard. Look for a grass that has good resistance to dog waste and works in your climate.
I don't know what type of grass that is but there would be something that would suit.

[Swannie]

Sir walter & the Shirley's fertilizer.
Swannie

[Vitara_JaycoSwift_Outback]

I may be able to help you out a bit.
But first, what is the soil like beneath, does it hold water? Does it hold too much?
If it is hard soil, it could use a run over with the spike drum jobby you can hire cheaply for the morning, then a top dress of the premium stuff. Give it at least an inch worth.
Before hand, you need to give it a high cut.

If you don't wish to go to that much trouble, call into the 1 place on the Coast who does know what they are talking about, these are the folk the green keepers all go to.
Globe Australia Pty Ltd.
3/53 Lawrence Dr (they front Recreation drive)
Nerang QLD
(07) 5578 4400

Can you put a pic up and perhaps can help from that a bit more.

The soil is getting much better but in the areas that are bad they are on slight slopes and they won't hold water. I've done my best to improve it over the past year two years.
I like the idea of  highering an aerato and I will look into that in the lead up to spring.

After reading more I think my main problem in the backyard is cheap turf choice that doesn't handle traffic well and doesn't like shade. We have significant shade covering half the lawn from next doors bloody jungle. In the front I think I need to mow more regularly and feed a bit more frequently.

I won't post any pics yet as everything is a mess currently. We are having a section from beside our house excavated out tomorrow for a carport to store of camper in. I've had to remove almost half of my gardens and have not mowed of whipper snipped in several weeks. it looks terrible.

Aiming to have it looking tip top again in a few weeks in preparation for my 30th. Will post pics then

[Beachman]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but spending money on improving your grass at the start of Winter is wasting your money. I don't know how true this is, but years ago I was told grass grows the most at night in summer. In winter it grows really slow and this is evident by the need to only mow every couple of months unlike weekly in summer.

[Rogerthatv2]

Yeah it is expensive but it is awesome, it has made that area great for kids.

Agree with D4D, it is awesome stuff and in our whole yard (front and back) except for the nature strip. It came with our house that we bought 6 months back, and was put in 3 months prior to us buying - old couple built a new house but did not get to enjoy it - deceased estate.

My only issue, it gets hot in summer - damn hot in Brisbane and can blister a 3 year olds foot in seconds. You have to hose it down to cool it every now and again, looks great but.  Would I put it in, whole yard no.  If we had a pool, around it yes but you just cannot beat that real grass feeling. 

Good luck getting a nice green lawn.




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[Vitara_JaycoSwift_Outback]

I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but spending money on improving your grass at the start of Winter is wasting your money. I don't know how true this is, but years ago I was told grass grows the most at night in summer. In winter it grows really slow and this is evident by the need to only mow every couple of months unlike weekly in summer.

Yes I know it doesn't grow much in winter. More just asking advice for general tips and tricks. What I ment in my previous was post tidying up the yard.

[hainess]

Survives dogs?
Always green,even in drought?
Soft for the kids?
Grows in winter? Mow once a fortnight anywhere north of Coffs.
Grows in summer? Mow twice a week north of Coffs.
Fertilizer? Don't be an idiot.

Yes to all of the above.

Kikuyu.

Only way to stop the spread is dig a trench, fill with petrol and light.
If the fire goes out, you've lost.

Rod
.

[Variflex]

Ive just put Kikuyu around my pool area and within three weeks the root system is well established and its looking fantastic, only gets watered every 2nd day now and nearly due for its first mow, not bad for a winter planting

[DaveR]

I'll be looking at the Kikuyu next or the Sir Walter. The couch I have is hard to keep looking nice, but well work it when you pull it off.

[dazzler]

An old farmer convinced me to do this in Canberra so not sure how viable it is for up here but anyways;

1. Buy a big bag of oat seeds.
2. Buy some bales of lucerne hay.
3. Buy a bag of shirleys no 17 fertiliser.
4. Buy a bag of irrigation grass mix (replace this with whatever is suitable for the climate)

Spray kill all the grass and weeds a week out.
Mow really close taking the clippings away.
Spread the grass mix evenly over the yard.
Spread the oat seeds out evenly over the yard. It should look like its been snowing.
Spread the fertiliser evenly over the yard.
Cover the lot with a layer of lucerne about 2" thick.
Water.  Water.  Water.

After a week or so the oats will come up through the lucerne.
After about two weeks the oats will be thick enough to walk on and mow on a very high setting leaving the clippings on the area.

Keep mowing until the grass comes through.

The theory is that the oats roots go into the ground as roots do.  As you keep mowing it it keeps growing till its season is over and then it dies and the roots rot into the soil. 

The lucerne creates a nice warm environment that keeps the moisture in and helps sprout the grass as well as breaking down over time.

Eventually Mr Grass takes over and there you go.  I seriously had the most unbelievable lawn in Canberra which is probably the worst place to grow grass. 

[paceman]

An old farmer convinced me to do this in Canberra so not sure how viable it is for up here but anyways;

1. Buy a big bag of oat seeds.
2. Buy some bales of lucerne hay.
3. Buy a bag of shirleys no 17 fertiliser.
4. Buy a bag of irrigation grass mix (replace this with whatever is suitable for the climate)

Spray kill all the grass and weeds a week out.
Mow really close taking the clippings away.
Spread the grass mix evenly over the yard.
Spread the oat seeds out evenly over the yard. It should look like its been snowing.
Spread the fertiliser evenly over the yard.
Cover the lot with a layer of lucerne about 2" thick.
Water.  Water.  Water.

After a week or so the oats will come up through the lucerne.
After about two weeks the oats will be thick enough to walk on and mow on a very high setting leaving the clippings on the area.

Keep mowing until the grass comes through.

The theory is that the oats roots go into the ground as roots do.  As you keep mowing it it keeps growing till its season is over and then it dies and the roots rot into the soil. 

The lucerne creates a nice warm environment that keeps the moisture in and helps sprout the grass as well as breaking down over time.

Eventually Mr Grass takes over and there you go.  I seriously had the most unbelievable lawn in Canberra which is probably the worst place to grow grass.

can i ask what 'irrigation grass mix' is?  is it just a lawn seed?  because i have yet to have a good experience with lawn seed and getting it to grow properly where we are (very sandy soil)...

[Nomad]

I had an absolutely crap lawn......got ripped off by the landscaper when I built.

After 5 years of dealing with it I thoughts stuff it I am starting again.

Poisoned and left it then mowed it on blade one to get rid of most of it then poisoned it again.

I laid about and inch deep layer of crusher dust and installed a good quality shade grass from Noosa Turf.

The crusher dust is great, it stops weeds from coming through from underneath and you don't introduce new weed seeds that can be found in soil. The grass also loves it as it's full of minerals. Our new grass has been down about 6 months now and is absolutely powering along.

When the crusher dust was mentioned to me I thought no way that works and spoke to a couple of landscapers who reckon its the best stuff to use.

Cheers Nomad.