Soil Prep - South West WA - ie SAND

Hi

I started reading through the turf laying summary, must admit I did not get through all 28 pages Hoping someone may be able to point me in the right direction for a quick run down on soil prep when existing conditions are sand, sand and more sand.

Also, any recommendations on the best turf? We were thinking about a soft leaf buffalo, but seems there are a few diff varieties?

Thanks

SOIL PREP is the MOST IMPORTANT INGREDIENT in a successful turf NO MATTER WHAT LAWN you choose.

Buffalo
best water wise ones are probably SIR WALTER or PALMETTO or perhaps SAPPHIRE which are soft leafed if you must go buffalo


BUT
consider EMPIRE ZOYSIA - takes a bit longer to establish as it is slower growing which means less runners in the garden ( you do get them. we've had a few in the 13 weeks since ours went down but no real hassle)

There is also a new NATIVE TURF called NARA. Fu will be the best person to give you a heads up as to where to find them in WA., depends on where in the SW you are. We are in Donnybrook and got our EZ from True Blue which is between busso and bunbury. ( they also had SW and Saph and a few other lawns on display so you could actually check them all out and do a comparison.


Prep means add organic( if you can find it) soil improver or compost plus zeolite and spongolite and bentonite clay and rotary hoeing it in to a depth of 300 mm or more if you can.
Seamungus ( maybe as well before laying)
What ever you do not just lay the good soil on top of the sand.

After laying the turf perhaps saturaid which needs lots of watering in.


GET THE LOW DOWN FROM FU OR BETTER YET GO THROUGH THAT TURF THREAD AND TAKE NOTES

I might try go through the 28 pages when the kids are in bed, will hopefully manage to actually retain some of the info then... maybe

Thanks for the info about True Blue, we're in Bunbury so def sounds like it might be worth heading out there for a look.

HI lachjor I had a vague memory you might have been down this way. They were terrible about responding to phone calls and getting back to you once we got to the time of wanting it laid. Great with earlier emails when it was a non busy time though. We must have chased them heaps but it was their super busy time. Eventually they confirmed a free contractor and we got ours laid. The blokes did a brilliant job. There's a couple of pics on this thread here. Lawn was laid on the 21st of October. 13 weeks yesterday.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=27687&p=612809&hilit=our+lawn#p612809

Dh's only complaint is there is no cut grass smell when he mows it. If you want to check out 99m2 of it laid pm me and you can come out for a look see.

Thanks for that! It may be a little while off yet, we are STILL waiting for our fences but I thought it best to arm myself with lots of info so we are all organised when the time comes Just had a quick look at your photos on your thread, your lawn looks lovely!

just added some new ones. We bought our soil improver/conditioner several months before the lawn went down. Ours sat in a huge hill for a good couple of months before we finally spread it out and the hoed it in.

Sorry to but in on your thread, but KexKez, can you go out to True blue turf at anytime to have a look or do you have to ring first?
They put a booklet in our letterbox and we drove past one day, but it didn't look like they had an office or anything out there, so kept driving.

I did ring. but they , I think, said come out any time. But I'd ring first.

Thanks

I've just sent True Blue an email asking about the cost of the Empire Turf. I've been doing a bit of reading and it does sound quite good Measured up our yard and we'll need approx 250sqm. It's going to be a massive job!

they will suggest 10% extra.

My friend got prices a couple of weeks ago. They had specials on both EZ and Sapphire apparently. I think they are normally $15m2 but are on special for $10m2.

Does that sound like a fair price anyone?

The actual yard area is closer to 260sqm, but we'll be having garden beds and maybe something other than grass around the clothes line (??), and DH is thinking about a path along the back of the house... will do another measurement before we order the turf, but be good to know approx what it'll set us back $$ wise.

I thought I read in kexkez's thread $6.60sqm with laying? Perhaps I misunderstood??

yes good price nope that was without laying lachjor

Though it was a bit cheaper in the non standard laying season.

I got my quote back for the Empire Turf - they said it's normally $15.40sqm, currently on special for $10.50sqm but for 250sqm special discount of $9.90sqm + $88 delivery.

oo nice price