Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 08, 2011 9:10 pm Gday All I need some advice. Our lawn has been neglected for many years. Now the children are a bit older, I finally have time to give it some attention. It looks like some sort of couch grass. It hasn't really been watered in about 5 years. Ive only started watering it now, cheap 99c Holmann Sprinklers from Bunnings. From my research I eventually will replace them down the track with Mp rotator sprinklers. What can I do to bring this lawn back to life? There are large sandy patches everywhere. When I did sporadically mow it, I used a mulching lawnmower so there are glass clippings that just never seem to decompose in other places. Here is also a photo of the sprinkler controller. Its an "Aussie oasis", googling doesnt bring up any info. So any advice would greatly be appreciated. Forgot to mention, i am in Perth. Thanks!!! Photos are here - https://picasaweb.google.com/Wozzzaaa/P ... directlink Re: Advice needed - Years of Lawn Neglect 3Mar 10, 2011 4:40 pm Not particular an expert on these things, but i would hire a corer and get some air into that soil. Looks heavily compacted in my opinion. Do a search for Fu Manchu post as he is a genius when it comes to lawn maintenance. Re: Advice needed - Years of Lawn Neglect 5Mar 10, 2011 8:26 pm Mate, no need to be like that. You have all the info you need on a plate in what must be around 4 threads within the 2 two pages on this forum. It seems that everyone wants personalised advice on the same issue over and over and over and over and over and I just can't do it. A bit of research on here will enlighten you Re: Advice needed - Years of Lawn Neglect 6Mar 10, 2011 8:26 pm Wozza, Righto, you have a couple of months to get that going before the dormant winter period kicks in. Firstly, molasses, read the molasses thread and start getting that on there, every day for a week. Then every week for a couple of months. Then every month thereafter. That will get the soil microbes active so that they can go to work on the grass clippings and feed the lawn. Next, pull out all the weeds you can, try not to drop any seed. Bin them. Read the Roundup thread and mix up as per Fu's reco, pick a calm morning and selectively spray out the grass in the garden beds. Do not spray any on the garden plants. Next, get a trailer load of certified organic compost and about half that amount of yellow sand. Get some zeolite, spongolite and bentonite clay. Also get a big bag of saturaid. Mix the compost with the yellow sand at the 2:1 ratio, mix in a litre each of zeolite, spongolite, bentonite and saturaid per wheelbarrow, and topdress the whole lawn with the mix, but only as thin as possible, you are not trying to lift the lawn level but level out the scoured out bare patches to the level of the tufts. Use a soil spreader to level it out but don't over work it, you will bruise the grass. I am guessing that soil is very non-wetting, am I right? The saturaid will address that, and the yellow sand and soil ammendments will help in time. The lawn should take off once it is getting water into it properly. Change your sprinkler heads with mp rotators and push out your watering time for the reduced water rate. You want to be watering slowly with all those bare patches. While you are waiting for the grass to grow into the bare patches, do not let them dry out, especially if it is windy or they will scour out again and make your lawn bumpy again. Give a light water day and night to keep it stable. Keep the traffic to an absolute minimium - become a lawn nazi for a couple of months. Mow weekly with a high blade, you want a good inch of blade at least when mowed. Once you have decent coverage get the corer and core the lawn heavily and then backfill with the topdressing mix but with less compost and more ammendments. Ditch the cores. (You can repeat that as often as you like, it will only improve your soil structure.) Get in contact with sustainable landscapes and ask them where to get bulk compost and bentonite. Dont ever use a spiked roller, you are just compacting not aerating. Time to fire up those muscles! Re: Advice needed - Years of Lawn Neglect 7Mar 10, 2011 8:48 pm Fu Manchu Mate, no need to be like that. You have all the info you need on a plate in what must be around 4 threads within the 2 two pages on this forum. It seems that everyone wants personalised advice on the same issue over and over and over and over and over and I just can't do it. A bit of research on here will enlighten you Hi Sorry, I dont know much about lawns & thought my situation needed personal advice. Thanks, I will do more searches in the future. Regards Wozzzaaa Re: Advice needed - Years of Lawn Neglect 8Mar 10, 2011 9:10 pm Mate its cool, Keen has thrown a heap of info your way and just had a browse of the last few pages and these will help viewtopic.php?f=19&t=41304 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=40951 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=43996 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=42810 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=42633 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=41961 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=42267 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=39165 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=44199 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=42080 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=42420 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=44833 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=44387 viewtopic.php?f=19&t=44081 Joe, it depends on your certifier but we are noticing the ones we deal with are really cracking down. 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