Help me decide - Complete backyard do-over

IncredibleBulk · Oct 09, 2016 7:23 am

Hey

I've been wanting to rip up and replace my existing back lawn for a while now. Previous owners laid down buffalo years ago but never took care to prevent wild grass from the empty lots behind us from invading. Those lots are now built on, so there's less chance of invasion now. The yard doesn't look too bad at the moment, but it is massively uneven in growth and maintenance. The front half grows slow whereas the back grows like wildfire

I was looking at doing the following

- tear up existing lawn
- lay down subsurface drip irrigation
- clean up the current garden beds
- lay down drip irrigation in the beds (on surface but possibly beneath mulch)
- install new turf (probably a buffalo variety)

I've got a few questions though in regards to the subsurface irrigation. How deep should it be? I've heard conflicting reports that you should install it "inside" the new top soil during the prep stages.... and others that say prepare the topsoil, lay the pipe and then roll out the new turf

In regards to the irrigation install, I plan on installing it myself (my logic being it's basically an adult mechano set

).... anything in particular I should concern myself with? I was basically planning on running ag pipe along the back of the house and along the pathway, and then running the emitter tubes "down the slope" (it's not an extreme slope, but will get pressure compensating drip pipe anyway) and then into another run of ag pipe at the bottom with a flush plug at the far end of the system

Not really looking to make major changes to the garden beds (other then weeding them of course, it's a bit of a mess at the moment).... just unsure whether to run one pipe around the entire length and loop it back or run two, one at the back for the shrubline and one at the front for the others. It's only a small area between then, so maybe one pipeline is enough in the middle and just use some spray heads instead of drip?

I've attached a bunch of pics of the current yard and the rough sizing layout I did while half asleep this morning

Any tips would be appreciated

(fyi, I'm in western Sydney and it's mostly a clay soil, if that helps with any suggestions)

Philip_J · Oct 10, 2016 2:11 pm

I was planning on doing the sub-surface irrigation myself but i recall reading a response from Fu (and i've decided to blindly follow all his advice

and he said that you'd be better off avoiding sub surface irrigation on the lawn unless you were getting a professional to install it.

Overall your lawn doesn't look to bad, but hard to tell. And if you're like me and you want that iconic 'perfect lawn' than i would imagine starting from scratch would be the way to go.

Hope any of that is useful. Good luck

Cheers,
Phil

He said that if using a MP Rotor pop-up sprinkler (see Hunter industries) then they are really water efficient. There is also some info and theories on the benefits of the 'rain like' water distribution.

Food for thought anyway.

The plan looks good enough, basic but achievable. I'm a massive believer in using curves for all garden beds and lawns etc... they are just so much more natural and appealing to the eyes (harder to mow and maintain the edge but its worth it)

Straight lines have their use, but i always prefer the natural curves.

IncredibleBulk · Oct 10, 2016 4:19 pm

The lawn doesn't look too bad because I only mowed it a few days earlier

If you saw the before pics, the front half was low whereas the backhalf was like a jungle. The back (kikuyu) is slowly taking over the yard... it was like that when we moved in

I just feel like I could go try to get rid of the kikuyu and promote the buffalo more... but it's a never ending battle that is already half over

Philip_J · Oct 12, 2016 10:13 am

I've also read from a few different sources that the Kikuyu will overrun/outgrow the buffalo so if you want it gone it might need to be a re-do

IncredibleBulk · Oct 12, 2016 7:45 pm

Kikuyu will grow in almost any conditions... so it will overtake ANYTHING if given half chance. Which is why I'm thinking starting from scratch is the best idea

IncredibleBulk · Oct 24, 2016 8:30 am

Decided to put this on hold until next year. Will be a constant struggle to keep the wild grass out until they finish building behind us