Please help!!! Fu Manchu ;)

Hi Fu, we're in the last stages of building in Gippsland and are desperate for a bit of lawn advice so we can start sorting it out asap. I've made the call today to the Pakenham supplier of Empire Zoysia (lovely guy btw) to find out the cost for a 3000m, even with the bulk discount it's still not something I can justify - especially when that cash could go towards a pool!
I've been researching your posts today (instead of doing paperwork ) and have come across your advice to go with Munns lawn seed but I'm unsure as to which type you think is better? We're on an acre with a u shaped house which will protect the main outdoor area from the elements, this area will just be lawn to begin with until we decide about decking/pool etc. This area will be more shaded than the rest of the block which is a typical country paddock! We have a 9 year old boy and a 3 year old lab/kelpie and both like to spend most of their time inside and when not, both are on the trampoline, so the grass won't be too damaged by either boy or pup.
I hope this gives you some idea of our situation and if you could help us out with any advice it would be greatly appreciated, I will try to add a pic so you can get a visual of area as well.
Thanks in advance

Fu will say no lawn seed.

BTW your thread title came across as Fu needing help (also no need to yell )

I have changed the heading lisanne, it wasn't meant to be yelling, just attention seeking!

To lay our land with the bulk discounted empire turf is going to cost $24,000, not including delivery...

Removed pics..
This is the back of the house, and the land before it looked so shabby, I miss how it looked before, will the grass grow back from the dirt pit it is now? Any help to make it look like it used to, until we decide what to do with the back, would be fantastic.
Thanks again!

this is all I could think of when I saw the title

I like it mecha-wombat! Every time I write the name this is what I see...

BTW I love your signature

In that situation Munns Emerald Kike is the go.

Yeah lawn seeds are a sensitive issue to many in the turf industry. They don't do the image of turf much chop and they sure don't offer the owner of the turf much in the long term. However we are seeing a very gradual phasing out (still prolly take 10 years) of some of the rubbish water hungry varieties.

Now Munns do the best seed in the situation using seed. Please don't construe that as me saying to go use ryes and fescues. Munns have a very high standard and offer the highest germination rates and low sand content in the box. Even if a cheaper option is there, why bother with something that will only have a low % actually germinate.

Anyway, Munns Emerald Kike is a ripper for those on rural properties. It can be set free. Like the difference of keeping a lion in a tiny urban backyard or setting it free in Africa

Now something I am very big on is doing blends of turfs. Tell me who says we have to have "a" single type of turf as a lawn? Who? The turf farms? The merchandising machine? Just get a heap of types and over time, you will love the EmpireZoysia-Emerald Kike-SirWalter Buffalo-lawn Just plant a few types in bits here and there and take samples over years to come to plant out elsewhere

Then you get the best of all the types Always will look schmick and easy care.

No catcher on the mower. Use molasses to feed the soil and the clippings will be broken down by the organisms fed by the molasses and made into the perfect fertiliser for your lawn

Oh and for images: There is only one
Google images for The Fu Signal First result should be this

TDL, I think it was, created it years ago

Hey Fu

Yours by far is definitely the best, not the biggest, I think I've probably posted the biggest picture the forum has ever had..oops!
When you say Emerald Kike, is that Emerald Kikuyu? That's the closest I can see on the Munn's website.
How long generally would it take seed grass to grow? We're hoping that the ground will be evened out in a few days and thought we'd go in then to throw it all down and start watering it in to get it moving before we do.
Ours is a mulching mower (he adores having the catcher off) but is too small for the new house so we'll have to get a ride on which should be fun! Is there different rules for prepping an acre for grass seed or will I just follow the instructions on the box?
Molasses shouldn't be a problem to find around here and I'll read through some of your other threads for a how-to so as you don't have to go through it all again here.
Now I have another question totally unrelated to turf...
I've promised I won't move onto a citrus tree until I can keep a herb alive and so far I've failed with many different types from many different sources and I desperately want a lemon tree. Have you got any hints to keeping parsley alive???
That pic does come up first when you Google the Fu Signal!
Kudos to the person who made it because it's cool

P.S A very big thanks for the help

Do you have to have that area for grass?
Can you use native plants to your area and generous layers of mulch? minimise the turf area?

Yes it's the one, Emerald Kikuyu

Well right now parsley wants to flower and die. Save the seeds. Keep the soil moist and if its warm, some shade won't go astray. Ours looks like poo and full of flower. We will be cutting it back. Others we just leave and they recover on their own. depends what I can be bothered doing really

All herbs you buy will have been grown in tunnels where light is different and temps are stable. Then shortly before sale good growers put them out in the sun to harden off for a week. Then to a retail nursery and then to your house seedlings will go straight from a controlled environment to the nursery and to yours. so having a few hassles isn't uncommon.

As with any plant, never feed the plant! Feed the soil instead. ignore the plants. The concepts are vastly different. The side of horticulture you guys commonly encounter is the one of the big machine that says to fertilise fertilise fertilise, correct this pH with crap b mixed with crap a, and use fungicides and use pesticides and then your shed is full of crap you don't really need and is also full of the things that create all the problems anyway.

Feeding the soil is much more fun, cleaner and safer for you and the plants

Molasses, seasol, powerfeed, eco amino. rotted animal poo, compost teas, worm farms, composts. Feed the microbes that then feed the plants for you. They do a better job that we ever could

As boring as it sounds, I like the grass! We're renting a house while our house is being built and the rental is only approx. 2 years old and this is what the native garden looks like, this was planted by a landscape gardener . I can't stand it, I think it's truly ugly.
I don't know the difference between a plant and a weed, am totally out of my depth with it and am really looking forward to moving!
Our spider sprayer (who we know personally so not trying to give a sales pitch) thinks this garden is a great place for white tails as the bark is pushed right up against the house and plenty of places for them to hide and hunt in the front jungle. This doesn't surprise me, we had one of our local peacocks from the fauna/flora park come and spend a few quality hours at our house - I think it mistook our jungle for it's home!
Removed pic...
We have a sand filter septic at the new house that will irrigate the area along the back fence line, will this send the Kikuyu crazy?
The parsley has come from nurseries and mum's vegie garden where it grows in abundance, I'd buy good quality soil etc, plant it straight into the ground and it wouldn't work out. I'll take some more from my folks when we move and try it with molasses..
The rotted animal poop, does that our boy never has to pick up after the pup again?

I have to search the forum for how to reduce the size of the pics..

You can reduce pic size on the photo sharing server you use. Set the upload size to something a little more conservative If you are using the few opportunities to upload to the homeone server then you need to resize using a photo editing program. Paint is a basic one you should have with your basic pc package.

300-400 pixels is a good size. 200 is a good small size

I did it! At least with one anyway, I've adjusted the others so I'm hoping they will reduce too. Thanks for help explaining it to me, after I wrote the last post I had good intentions to hunt the info down and then got distracted by Facebook!