Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 29, 2010 8:37 pm Hi There, We have a 1 hectare block just north of Geraldton on a hill looking out over the ocean. As you might imagine, we are surrounded by sand, and subject to fierce winds and baking sun. We are wanting to fence off a smallish area (say 300m/2) and use it as a grass area for the kids and dogs. I have read Fu's posts and know what a fan he is of Zoysia which sounds great to me too but our options seem limited here in terms of varieties of turf available in Geraldton (greenlees and wintergreen couch at local turf farm). Further to our problem I have significant allergies to couch and rye grass so really don't want to go with this. The grass would obviously have to be very drought tolerant as we get next to no rain here, salt tolerant as we overlook the ocean, grow in sandy soil and have the ability to grow decently in shade so we can put up a couple of shade sails for the kids. We were really wanting to go with seed instead of turf (or budget is really limited) but it seems then we are further limited in terms of varieties of grass. I can't even find any Zoysia stockist in Perth if we wanted to go that way, I guess we could go down and pick up runners, plugs etc of what ever grass was the way to go if we couldn't get it here. I would really love to do one of the Great Gardens workshops but find my ability to get to Perth without 2 young children in tow is non existant. Any suggestions Any suggestions Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 2Apr 01, 2010 1:57 am Wow that is lots of questions Great Gardens are coming to Gero EZ should be available to Gero, I'll need to do some homework. Lovegroves here in WA will offer some advice for you They will be able to say how to get it there too Please avoid the seeds unless it is Emerald Kikuyu. That you can buy in Gero. EZ and Kike will be the absolute best options in the conditions. Seed varieties won't last two seconds where you are. Ryes and fescues will look like poo and take up huge amounts of water to look half decent. Not something you have much of. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 3Apr 01, 2010 9:43 pm Cheers Thanks for that Fu. I actually found Lovegroves today on the web before I checked this and spoke to them. I can get the EZ shipped up here, looks like our budget is blown! They suggested there might be no point in doing it before Spring now I think I had Kike at our last house and it made me sneeze and sneeze so I guess nothing left to do but try the EZ Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 4Apr 01, 2010 9:52 pm The soft leaf buffalos should be ok. Out there in Gero, the lawn will be the least of your worries with allergies Wildflower season must be hell. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 5Apr 06, 2010 10:07 pm Wildflower season was actually not that bad for me, but thinking given the wind here I might as well save my money and plant cheap couch because all my neighbours will anyway and it'll be blowing everywhere anyway! Given the size of our block something that runs and is slightly invasive may not necessarily be a bad thing (although I do like the reduced mowing of EZ). Can't wait for the great gardens team to come to Geraldton. No dates on the website yet so I imagine it wont be till late in the year. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 6Apr 06, 2010 10:48 pm It will be in the winter, I am pretty certain. As for the couch, do you really want to be mowing an area that size often? It doesn't have fertile seed so seeds won't blow in and germinate. It just runs better than just about any other turf or grass in the world and I think it is second only to bamboo. I think that is what it is. Great if you get a ride on mower, not so hard but still more mowing than any other. Cheap to buy though. Expensive to look after. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 7Jun 13, 2010 2:21 pm Ok it's been awhile but I'm now taking our grass issue out of the too hard basket and ready to attack it again... I note Great Gardens haven't announced a Geraldton visit yet seems they are going straight past us to Carnarvon:( I am wondering, given I have all the time in the world, given our budget (have about 200m2 to turf), would it be possible to have say wintergreen couch put in for our turf mixing it with EZ (say 70% couch 30% EZ) in time would the EZ take over the couch (I have all the time in the world as I know it would be a slow process) or would I be better off mixing the couch with buffalo? What is the downside of this as opposed to doing all EZ in the first place....other than increased maintenance in the short term? I have found an EZ supplier here for $11 p/mtre. I have sandy soil here but have had loam put over the top. From reading your posts, is my understanding right that I should get some organic soil, spongelite and zeolite to put on it then hoe it all in together? Am I missing anything...should I be putting in any fertiliser or water saving crystals or anything else? Here is a link to an album with some pics of what we are dealing with : Any landscaping suggestions would be appreciated as we are lost! http://s820.photobucket.com/albums/zz121/brooket75/House/ Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 8Jun 17, 2010 3:19 pm Brooket, I am no expert but I can suggest what I would do based on what I have learnt from Fu (and from the great gardens workshop in Badgingarra last Saturday !) and experienced at home. I am also in Gero so can sympathise with your situation. You mentioned that you have time but a low budget. Lawn is a very "high performance / high maintanence " landscape area. It requires lots of water and resources (your time) to look good and especially establish. Ensure that you are only establishing it where you ultimately (in the long term) want a lawn area - it is not a 'quick-fix' solution to stop the sand from blowing come spring time. (There are better solutions for that.) For soil prep, you can't get certified organic soil in Gero (except in bags), so I would go with the best bulk compost you can find. Get as much as you can afford. By the look of your soil, you have gutless white sand with what looks like yellow sand over the top. Is this the loam you were talking about ? Brickies yellow sand or Meru "loam" in Gero both have a high clay content and will set like concrete - not a bad thing if you have lots of sand to mix it with but you must mix the two together well to a depth of say 300mm. With all your compost, zeolite, spongolite. (Don't know where to get spongolite in Gero, zeolite you can get from CRT in 25kg bags.) If you have a very sandy soil still you can mix in some bentonite clay, best source is bulk budget kitty litter (crushed), read the label as there are other types of kitty litter. Or use attapulgite, a similar clay processed here in Gero at Narngulu (Hudson resources), should be available cheap direct. At all costs avoid layering soil types over each without mixing. Once that lot is all mixed up I would get a few bales of straw or lupin mulch and cover the area to 50mm, and then get a bulk load of tree mulch (Aussie tree services) delivered and cover the lot by 50mm again. Then I would just leave it over the winter until say the end of August at least as grass is dormant anyway. Winter rains should kick off some good composting underneath. Pull out any weeds which come through (shouldn't be many). (Tree mulch will not blow around, believe it or not.) Once the days start to get longer, say end of August, I would think about putting down the turf. Rake off the tree mulch and you should have good soil underneath. I would also do the same prep for areas designated as garden beds, but plant into them a bit earlier. Hard paving areas can be tackled now before it gets windy. BTW going with couch grass would not be increased maintanence in the short term as is would be faster than EZ, but would be a huge headache in the future. Stick with EZ for far less maintanence and lower costs long term. cheers & good luck. PS- Please belt me around the head with any incorrect info there please Fu. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 9Jun 17, 2010 5:03 pm Wow thanks for all that Gero specific advice I have been a bit lost as to what is available and where to get it as we are only fairly new to town. At the moment I am only planning on grassing an area for the kids to play on, the rest can wait and have something else done with it, given where we are I don't think we will ever stop the wind blowing dirt all over the place anyway. The pics are old before the loam but you are right it is that horrible white useless sand with a layer of yellow sand around the house where the builders have been. The loam is that red stuff and it does as you say set like concrete so I will be sure to mix it all up as soon as I have all the ingredients in place. I really want the EZ but our budget is disappearing fast so was wondering if I could save money by mixing it with couch and having the EZ slowly take over the couch. I read somewhere on this forum that you could do this with buffalo and couch but not sure if it would work with EZ. This would reduce the turf cost for us and let us spend more money on the soil prep side of things. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 10Jun 17, 2010 6:56 pm Not sure if EZ will dominate couch, I would think not as couch is more vigorous. Buffalo will dominate couch eventually but I would be loathe to introduce couch at all as it is so invasive. If you have time and don't mind the hard work maybe get EZ turf and cut it into strips and plant out over the area, will be longer to establish obviously but will get there eventually. No, dont use water crystals or fertiliser, rather do the soil prep and treat post planting with powerfeed, seasol, molasses. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 11Jun 18, 2010 1:07 am Nothing dominates couch. That is why it is the worlds second worst weed problem next to marijuana Na but it is the second worst weed problem. Cheap to buy and really expensive to get looking good! (not alive but good and that is not what the stats are based on nor is it how the average joe is going to do it) Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 12Jun 18, 2010 9:59 am ok ok no couch! Argh there is just no way I around it is there. I saw the EZ growing here right next to the couch and buffalo and without knowing which was which I had decided that the EZ looked the best. Thanks for the info and the help Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 13Jun 19, 2010 9:14 pm You can buy Palmetto in large seed trays. Each tray will cover about 25m2. Plant it out like seedlings. About $20 a tray. I can try and remember and chase them up for you. If I forget PM me Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 14Jun 19, 2010 9:18 pm Ha this thread made me think of the Kike growing at Greenough town site. Massive double gees that would get stuck in my thongs and some went through I had a thong come off and my mate pushed me and threw the thong It took me ages to pick through the double gees with one thong on. There was a heap of laughing but it wasn't from me bastards Some funny stuff happened on that trip. Re: Problems selecting Grass for Geraldton WA 15Jun 19, 2010 10:03 pm Sounds like our yard, bloody double gees everywhere the poor kids are like pin cusions! It's going to take forever to get rid of them. 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