Chirp!:

    Sunday, January 13, 2008

    Grass

    Anyone in Melbourne, or similar climes laid new turf lately ?

    We are up to the stage where we are looking at grass for the part of the front yard that is not garden.

    In my last house and the backyard here, we had/have a mix of Kikuyu and clover - both weeds, but geez, when everyone else's lawn is dust or yellow, mine looks like I water it ( I don't ! ).

    The only thing is that kikuyu is an invasive, noxious, creeping pest, getting into garden beds, and is bloody annoying. If you get pre-occ for just a moment, it gets in and takes over ( it travels underground as well as on the surface ) .. so i'm kinda over all the bloody weeding, and in future i'd like to be doing a lot less of it. But it IS hardy, green, and I do get lots of "gee, your grass is so lush and green!" type comments.

    So AB wants to go Sir Walter, but it's a little darker and broader in leaf than I would like. however, it seems to tick all the boxes, and I believe it's the most popular seller in Australia ATM.

    I won't be buying couch. No.

    And Tall Fescue .. which i'm pretty sure is the dead stuff I see in other people's lawns. No.

    Palmetto ?

    Any advice ?

    25 comments:

    Jorth said...

    Sorry, no practical advice at all to give.

    However, the Galumph and I were Google Earthing last night, and marvelling over how parched our city looks.

    Cos, you know, we can really rock a Saturday night!

    Sue said...

    We have tall fescue in our front garden and water it with the washing machine water. Buffalo grass is drought tolerant, doesnt need much water in the summer and browns off but once the rain comes in the winter it greens right back up.

    Kirsty said...

    I've got Sir Walter...it's OK...nice & green except near the big trees where it's patchy. I've also got Santa Anna couch because I wanted bouncy K Heath fairway grass. It is lovely! But...it does look terrible in winter.

    I want "smart grass" everywhere now.

    Janet said...

    My mum has a little patch of grass that's brilliant. It's munns arid smart grass which is a tall fescue, I think. I aspire to this grass, it's slow growing, good in the heat and nice to sit and walk on. And not couch.

    Anonymous said...

    We have "Windsor Green Couch". I'm not sure if you can get it in melbourne but here is the link anyway.

    http://www.munnsinstantlawn.com.au/lawn_varieties.php

    It is extremely drought tolerant. Due to major renovations our lawn of this variety was mostly destroyed but the remaining 3 square metres or so of the sutff is thriving with NO water other than rain fall. We are waiting until the weather cools down a bit to get some more of the stuff for the other side of our backyard. I can't recommend it highly enough.

    Lynne@Oberon said...

    We have Buffalo as well. We put it in four months ago and it is lush, soft, greeeeeen, and cool to lay on. We love our buffalo lawn, so I highly recommend it. Oh, and we never water it but we have been having a bit of rain here in Sydney so I'm not entirely sure how it would cope with no rain.
    Good luck making the right decision :)

    shula said...

    Paving?

    Just kidding.

    Suse said...

    We have Munns Arid Smart Grass.

    At least we did. Now we have dust.

    Anonymous said...

    Couch makes my feet itchy.

    Just thought that you might like to consider that...

    In case I am ever barefoot in your yard...

    Jo said...

    Well, see now you have tapped into my secret fantasy life where our children run barefoot in lush green grass, under a, wait for it, SPRINKLER !!
    I am the queen of listening to gardening programs on the radio. My husband says I am old before my time. Anyway, all they talk about is buffalo.
    Will be keen to know how you go ...

    Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

    We got new lawn last year. It's either couch or kikuyu - will check to find out exactly - but we were told it is a "non-running" variety. It stays green with no water. We rolled it out in September - which is apparently a good time to do so.

    At one of our previous houses we put in a Sir Walter lawn. It browned off a lot during colder months and I didn't find it all that inviting to sit on.

    I'll e-mail you once I find out details of ours.

    muser said...

    Durban is good for the patchy areas under trees.

    Mary said...

    Can't help you here I am afraid.

    But good god there are a surprising number of people who can!

    Mary said...

    I know - the comma is annoying - and even more so now you have pointed it out!

    It smells nice though.

    Suse said...

    Do you read How About Orange blog? Nothing to do with lawn, but I thought you might enjoy it.

    Holly Muppet said...

    We laid tall fescue and it's currently brown, dry, brittle and really rough and prickly on your feet (especially little feet). Friends laid santa anna (I think) on their nature strip and it seems to be pretty hardy.

    KPB said...

    I was all the Sir Walter but am now curious about the smart grass and then caught myself because WHY THE HELL would I know ANYTHING about lawn... when ours has been destroyed by the dawgs. There is a small strip of luxurious, cushiony greenness in the shade of the trees down one side of our yard. Then there are dust bowls and patches of weeds. It's hideous and every day I look at it I want to go to the nursery and buy strips of lawn just to cover the dirt bowls. Every.single.day.

    Stacey said...

    So what's wrong with couch? Melbourne's golf courses can't all be wrong.
    Me, I'm hanging out for a camomile lawn ever since I read the book.

    meggie said...

    We have mostly weeds -Gom cuts to the bone!

    But friends have Sir Walter, & it is just lovely. They dont water either.

    LBA said...

    Wow - all these comments !

    Stacey - golf courses have GROUNDSKEEPERS, and I know the amount of work in keeping couch in top condition - it requires fertilising, and you have to keep it cut to 5-10mm ( the lusher grasses are 15-20mm )

    I finally got my husband, the great golf-lover himself, to admit last night that couch is not for the lazy surburban gardener.

    And i've got a small patch of it in my regular backyard grass, and if you DO let it grow a bit, it's disgusting. And scratchy.

    However, i'm still nowhere nearer to a solution.

    I've just enquired about "Sapphire Buffalo" here: http://www.hgturf.com.au/inl_hgturf.html after all the mixed feedback on the Sir Walter i've got.

    *sigh*

    :)

    LBA said...

    oh - and V&R - I up you in the fogie stakes - I watch "Gardening Australia" on the ABC.

    Sans slippers, cup o tea and knitting though.

    Ms Brown Mouse said...

    I so miss a proper green & lush canberra lawn. There's nothing quite so lovely as bare feet in cool grass on a hot day.
    Unfortunately the drought etc means it's another childhood memory, like running under the sprinkler, sigh.

    Aunty Evil said...

    Go the Buffalo. I got it because it is hardy, and just needs a water to stay green.

    And it's good for the little one to play on, because it's not scratchy and doesn't make you itch. Very important, as far as I am concerned. Everything makes me itch.

    Aunty Evil said...

    Oh, but don't be too smart with your underlay soil. Buffalo likes it wet so if you can get some clay in there, do it. Don't get a really sandy underlay like I did.

    Aunty Evil said...

    And PPS. I got the Palmetto, not the Sir Walter.

    The end.

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