Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 28, 2010 11:30 am HI guys We have recently purchased a house in Mt Eliza on about 2700 m2 property. There is some lawn (if you'd call it that) but in very poor condition and basically we want to re-do the entire garden and where necessary, re-plant new lawn. I would hazard a guess that lawn will be used on approx 1/4 - 1/5 of the property (will make it as less as possible by digging garden beds around existing trees etc etc). My question is, does anyone know what sort of lawn/turf is suitable for down these parts? Going by a few of the options I have seen, we think the Sir Walter Buffalo is probably the best option but it seems there are probably so many grasses that I am unaware of, thought some of you might have some better options. There is one small fenced off area by the pool and deck that is more like your typical suburban backyard landscape that could potentially be a different grass to the rest if need be. The rest of the lawn areas will be fairly big open spaces that needs to fit in with a native landscape - so nothing too manicured (neat and tidy but not fancy, if that makes sense). And something that kids can run/play on too. We don't have water tanks at the moment (hoping to down the track but quote came in way more expensive that I had anticipated so that is on the back-burner) so we need something quite drought tolerant - and if possible, I'd prefer if it didn't have to go brown over winter (Or summer) but if that is the case with most, then so be it. Any suggestions?? And if SWB is the one that most of you think is best (and/or that we decide to get) is it too late to plant?? Thanks, Ceebs Re: Which lawn for large area - Melbourne/Mornington Peninsu 2Mar 29, 2010 1:45 pm Any of the warm season grasses will be fine, pop along and have a look at which ones you like. They will all brown off to varying degrees but will be mostly brown in the depths of winter. Each turf has there advantages and disadvantages plenty of threads if you search the board. Avoid cool seasons like fescue as they brown off in summer unless you pump rude amounts of water into it. Having said that they will be green for the rest of the year just not when its warm/when you want to use it. Heaps of info here; http://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=21938 Re: Which lawn for large area - Melbourne/Mornington Peninsu 4Mar 29, 2010 2:17 pm My 2cents then (i am no turf expert); Buffalo's and Empire zoysia are the easist to look after, less water, less fertiliser, less invasive and less mowing/edging. Buffalo's needs more mowing than EZ but repairs quicker from damage. Kikuyu/couch are basically weeds and grow as such. Cheap and used mainly used in sports fields and parks. They will survive anything, extremly tough and green up quick whenever it rains. With that comes higher maintance than the others including runners in your garden beds & up power poles etc. Great if you want to put the effort and both can be oversowed with winter active grasses that give winter colour and die off in summer when the couch/kik comes alive again. To be fair Couches make a great high maintance lawn if you want a bowling golf green yard with the time/effort to get it. Most of all though you need plenty of water & soil prep to get any of the turf established, EZ is the longest to take root but then you get the benefit of less mowing. It is getting a little late to lay and most of the turf places will not take and responsibility if it dies. As i said earlier if you get a chance have a look at the different turf as SW looks totally different to couch. EZ is avaliable from HG turf and has a similar blade width to kikuyu but is a far more dense turf. Re: Which lawn for large area - Melbourne/Mornington Peninsu 5Mar 30, 2010 9:59 am Thanks BK... Based on the small amount of research we had done, we were heading towards SWB but just wanted to check if there may have been anything else better/more practical for our space. So it looks like we are kind of on the money, but I will def check out Empire Zoysia too (hadn't come across this in my research). We definitely don't want anything too high maintenance as we won't have the time for that. I wonder if you/anyone could tell us what we may already have - I'm sure it's common but I'm just not familiar with all the different varieties..... it seems to grow in clumps and be quite long blades (that might be because we haven't mowed since we moved in ) but basically tall clumps - look like they could be pulled out easily - doesn't appear to be the kind of grass that would repair itself?? Probably not enough info to identify - but does it sound like a couch of some description?? Ceebs Re: Which lawn for large area - Melbourne/Mornington Peninsu 6Mar 30, 2010 11:03 am Definately not a couch if it clumps. Couch/warm season turf are creeping grass with runners that self repair. Sounds like fescue which is cool season and not self reparing. Browns off very easily once the temps reach 30, it is a hassle to keep green even with plenty of water (which we don't have) and then having to repatch everytime there is damage. From what i have seen, SW needs more mowing than Palmetto buffalo if you are going down that route. Also SW was developed in oz where Pal is from yank land. EZ looks better than them both and requires half the mowing. Re: Which lawn for large area - Melbourne/Mornington Peninsu 7Mar 30, 2010 11:26 am Thanks for the info. Yes, maybe a fescue - it was def brown when we moved her (small patches of green) which was mid/end summer and only greening up a bit now with some rain - so does sound like fescue. Will def look into the EZ as an option. Really appreciate your help and info. Thanks. CDC Housing Code 3 When to apply Floor Area external face of wall vs Gross Floor Area internal face of wall. Reading thru CDC Housing Code 3, lets take a lot 915sqm.… 0 16558 consider putting in wall WC instead of robe in the same bedroom, then it might be doable to hook up to the existing piping. 4 6628 4 4492 |