Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 21Sep 20, 2009 10:50 pm Haven't been on here for ages, but great to see that FU is still providing a wealth of knowledge. It appears when I laid my palmetto I did everything wrong in terms of the soil prep. (did a level, a rake, spread some poo around and then laid turf on top) Unfortunatley 18months down the track the lawn is very sad, dead looking and the surface is rock hard. The soil underneath is typical yellow WA beach sand. When i laid it it was compacted, watered heaps etc. It did look healthy for a while but winter has shattered it. I have only ever mowed it with a normal mower (not cylindrical one) always with the catcher on. FU what can i do to bring it back. Does it need coring? The dog out the back has dug bits n peices and it is all very uneven. What is the best to topdress it with. Thanks for any help. Appreciate it. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 22Sep 21, 2009 12:10 am Excellent question Perth_Euro, I too have seemingly done everything wrong when laying my new Palmetto last December. Zero organic soil, just DLifter and water (not much to be said for the 'experts' at the turf farm, eh?) A very DIY job. Our lawn is now looking a little yellow and even has some white patches (actually they are very circular) and a heap of weeds, and in general looking very weak! Winter has not been kind at all. I have followed all your wonderful posts Fu, and convinced my husband, that this guy on the internet called Fu Manchu knows what he's talking about , and we have since (just this weekend) put on some molasses, Olsen's Green Bio, Blood and Bone, soil wetter and seasol, so fingers crossed, we will have a beautiful lawn and garden very soon! Hopefully we have moved in the right direction anyway! I too have ordered some green mulch from mulchnet. I opted to pay full price for it, as I am very impatient and want it NOW!! My question (as above) is about how to make the lawn more level. It is a little bumpy in areas, although at present we only have a rotary motor (but are looking to buy a cyinder one), the uneveness is not too bad, but with the new mower will be more of a problem. Fu, if you wouldn't mind answering a Newbie Poster (but long time reader) what is the best way to achieve a more level surface, I would be most grateful! Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 23Sep 27, 2009 11:49 pm Argh, got the mulch from mulch net, I ordered 10 cubic metres and they delivered around 40! Needless to say we have been furiously moving mulch and giving it to anyone who even remotely looked at the H-U-G-E pile! But, the truck which delivered said mulch, drove up onto our lwan and now we are in more desperate need to top dress, or however it is done, to make the lawn appear more level. Fu, can you help us??? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 24Sep 28, 2009 12:03 am 10 m3 is a mountain! bung a sign out the front, free mulch A big garden would use around 6m3. Don't be shy on heaping it really thick on the garden beds. so much so, many small plants would barely be seen, however, you watch the growth and health improve Just keep the stems clear of mulch. Your water use this summer will be much more efficient and you'd be supprised how fast it breaks down. I recall one garden, we laid it on about a foot and a half thick and after a year, it needed re-doing. The soil was amazing underneath though As for the lawn, well, it will bounce back, some molasses and seasol, maybe a bit of blood and bone. If you want to get rid of it quick, call up 6PR on Sunday morning for buy swap and sell between 6 and 8am. Jason or Harvey will plug your free mulch, just give the street and say it's free. It shouldn't last long http://www.6pr.com.au/contact-us.html Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 25Sep 28, 2009 12:08 am Thanks Fu, it's all moved now, the neighbourhood smells amazing! But, my question now is, how do I get the lawn to look more level. Even prior to the truck driving on our lawn, it was fairly uneven (see my previous post). Thanks again! Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 26Sep 28, 2009 12:13 am Oh and for a topdress, this is the stuff and just about only the stuff to use http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/comme ... nt_id=2135 the picture shows 1m3. You watch how good your lawn goes with that stuff raked into it If you wnat something cheaper for a topdress (and this is for leveling only) then lawn topdress or lawn concentrate from http://www.greenlifesoil.com.au/soils.htm Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 27Sep 28, 2009 12:22 am Cheers Fu, you areally are an asset to this forum! Here is a few pics of our home after taking all your advice regarding feeding the soil and not the plants! Hmm, can't seem to upload any pics, I am getting an error that the board attachment quota has been reached! Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 28Sep 28, 2009 7:41 am FU, is it worth coring the lawn before applying seasol and topdressing? Thanks Timbo Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 29Sep 28, 2009 10:57 pm Timbo, you can if you want, but overall, getting air into our sandy soils isn't the hassle, getting water in it is. I'd only ever suggest coring and or aerating here in Perth if you have a car driving on it all the time. Spend your time and money on wetting agents (saturaid or wetlock) and raking in certified organic soils Michelle you will need to open a photo bucket or image shack account, upload the photos there from your machine and link them location in your post. click [IMG] tags and post the link in between them, you can do the same thing with images you find on the net using google image search just post the image location inbetween the tags (make sure you set your account to private ) Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 30Sep 29, 2009 3:43 pm Thanks again FU IS now a good time to spread a load on the lawn? Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 31Sep 29, 2009 11:18 pm Yeah, get into it cobba. http://www.gardenersdirect.com.au/comme ... y=+++GO!++ http://www.greenlifesoil.com.au/ Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 32Sep 30, 2009 8:18 am Fu, If moving into a house that has recently had turf installed recently as part of a landscape package, what would be the best course of action to a healthy lawn assuming the lanscapers did nothing except put down some topsoil on top of a clay base. Would spraying powerfeed/seasol/molasses be the starting point? FYI, it is Sir Walter Buffalo and we are in Vic. Cheers Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 33Sep 30, 2009 11:09 pm It's about all you can do. Every year get some certified organic soil delivered and rake it in. I think these landscape mobs have something to answer for in one way. In the other they have a tough job. The overall idea of landscape packages is to create uniformity and create a complete street scape. There are compromises to achieve this. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 34Oct 04, 2009 10:36 am I have a landscape package with my house. Will the landscapers do all of this to my soil or should I do it before they come? Has anyone had success in changing from a couch to Zoysia with a package like this? I know my neighbour has a terrible lawn.. it arrived full of weeds??? Thanks! *Built with Gemmill Homes in WA* Slab - 1st June 2009 Plate Height - 17th June 2009 Lock Up - 18th August 2009 PCI - 5th October 2009 Hand Over - 15th Oct 2009 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20844 Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 35Oct 04, 2009 8:35 pm Manda, I'm afraid you will need to pump up those muscles and get ready for some hard yakka. You will be best to do this yourself and the lads are more than happy for you to do it before they arrive They will also sort the turf, you might be able to get some good advice as well from Lovegroves on this. I can't stress enough that do what ever it takes not to have a couch! Even go for a soft leaf buffalo before selecting a couch. You will need to cover the extra cost yourself and that in my opinion is fair enough Contact Mulchnet for the mulch, the landscapers are going to use really nasty black mulch. It's cheap as. All you need to know is the day it needs to be there or even for the day before If you source the soil from gardeners direct and while you are at it get some zeolite and spongolite in there too. then level and compact ready for the landscapers. They will then reprep it a bit to get it right and please request they don't chuck down the Dynamic lifter. It won't be needed. For all others getting landscape packages, the turf is going to be treated like carpet, rolled out onto poor soil prep, then with some dynamic lifter chucked down under it it will be presented to you looking great and from that moment on it will guzzle water, be expensive to mow, get diseases and just overall cost you a shinto load of coin and be yet another lawn contributing to environmental degradation. Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 36Oct 04, 2009 8:41 pm It really bewilders me why so many people won't spend a cent on good soil prep, excellent turf choices and appropriate irrigation systems. They are quite happy to pay massive water bills, spend tonnes of money on wetting agents, lawn beetle treatments (which is a crock anyway ) and fertilisers for ever more so as to never overcome what they created in the very first place i mean people spend a fortune on fertiliser quite happily. Most would spend around $200 a year on fertiliser alone! Will they spend the same preventing all that? No way! I can't work it out Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 37Oct 04, 2009 10:07 pm What kind of a cost am I looking at per m2 for the nice mulch/soil conditioning and how much is a soft leaf buffalo or zoysia? I see a few places have it back in stock and I'd dearly love to be able to afford to avoid the couch as I know it is a horror down the track. We have it in the current house and the block is twice the size. I planted some oregano which is taking on teh couch in the garden beds as we speak.. don't think it will win though. *Built with Gemmill Homes in WA* Slab - 1st June 2009 Plate Height - 17th June 2009 Lock Up - 18th August 2009 PCI - 5th October 2009 Hand Over - 15th Oct 2009 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20844 Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 38Oct 05, 2009 7:47 am Manda What kind of a cost am I looking at per m2 for the nice mulch/soil conditioning and how much is a soft leaf buffalo or zoysia? I see a few places have it back in stock and I'd dearly love to be able to afford to avoid the couch as I know it is a horror down the track. We have it in the current house and the block is twice the size. I planted some oregano which is taking on teh couch in the garden beds as we speak.. don't think it will win though. Hi Manda Mulch is about $40 to $55 per cubic metre (I got black dyed mulch $55)and turf is about $10 per square metre. All costs about $25.00 per delivery. A normal/mid truck can deliver about 10 cubic meters per delivery Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 39Oct 05, 2009 9:02 am Thanks! I better put on some work boots and get digging!!! *Built with Gemmill Homes in WA* Slab - 1st June 2009 Plate Height - 17th June 2009 Lock Up - 18th August 2009 PCI - 5th October 2009 Hand Over - 15th Oct 2009 https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=20844 Re: TURF LAYING SUMMARY - FU 40Oct 05, 2009 11:50 pm At all costs DO NOT USE BLACK MULCH! You may as well have no mulch. It is cosmetic only pretty much and even then the iron oxide leaches out fast and it goes grey. This stuff will become water repellent and contribute to significant plant stress and water use in summer. Choose a mulch that doesn't hold moisture, you want the water in the soil, not the mulch. Mulchnet.com I'm about to put down some Merbau. Is it necessary to oil underneath the boards before laying? 0 1933 Hey There. No problems re jumping in. My original question was "should I have waterproofed" the concrete slab before putting batons down. We have been told we should… 7 4328 Depends what you're current inclusions are, but we're not including wardrobes and will just use second hand ones until we can save later on to get them built. Also have a… 3 11631 |