Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Mar 09, 2011 12:28 pm Hi guys, We're finally getting to the stage of getting our front garden in order, however we've run into a bit of a quandry in relation to our grass choice. Specifically in front of our lot is a approx 4x6m area that is the estate common property, has service pits and a streetlight this is to be "landscaped" I use the term loosly by the owner's corporation and is maintatined by the owners corp. After contacting them we were told that area would be grassed with a buffalo, most likely Sir Walter they were a bit thin on in details and were referring to the estate landscape plan created by the contracting company. The issue for us is that we have no footpath or similar so delineate between our property and the common property, we had been all ready to go down the EZ route and intend to wither the grassed areas in our backyard, however the question I put forth is that for that for the area that is our garden on our property which we intend to grass will it look rediculous to have EZ meeting the Sir Walter, or would it be better to just put in sir walter in that area so it all matchs? The sir walter is $1.50per meter more expensive, but the area we're doing is around 20m2 so its not going to break the bank either way. So yeah what do people think, is it worth having the grass we want but possibly having it look a little odd, or do we keep it the same for the looks? Pls discuss Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 2Mar 09, 2011 3:42 pm I have had no experience with the zoyzia grasses, sir walter grows very quickly when established so if you have no foot path separating the areas eventually I think the sir walter will grow through the zoysia. I would just stick with the sir walter and be done with it. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 3Mar 09, 2011 9:59 pm It won't look silly at all In fact I have many times encouraged people to grow turf blends. In your case, start out as you are currently planning and over time, take core samples of each variety and plant them in the other turf variety you can buy a gadget that cuts holes which are used to clear around irrigation and cutting a new holes in golf course greens They should cost about $30 or use an old steak knife. This is absolutely highly advisable. Some of the best people in turf have, themselves, got blends of turfs rather than individual varieties. Looks better and you get the best of both worlds What is essential is not to go the path of traditional soil prep. Just get the soil amendments in I recommend and the organic compost. Organic compost is vastly different to "top soil" and "lawn mix" and "lawn sand". Avoid layering the soils and go the effort to mix and blend the components through you existing soil structure. The long term benefits are immeasurable for you. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 4Mar 09, 2011 10:03 pm As for speed of growth, that can be controlled with amounts of water and little to my preferred no fertiliser. Pity the East doesn't get "shades of green" which is the very best for lawns. Maybe in years to come? Anyway there is plenty of info I have posted on how to get a schmicko lawn at times of year others can't Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 5Mar 10, 2011 10:04 am Fu Manchu As for speed of growth, that can be controlled with amounts of water and little to my preferred no fertiliser. Pity the East doesn't get "shades of green" which is the very best for lawns. Maybe in years to come? Anyway there is plenty of info I have posted on how to get a schmicko lawn at times of year others can't Thanks Fu, might be worth a try we've already done the soil prep, just havent got around to posting in our thread regarding it But it did involve hiring Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ IMG_0418 by Belial669, on Flickr And 12m3 of an organic soil mix and 12m3 of mushroom compost, about half of which is in the below pick Like ⋅ Add a comment ⋅ Pin to Ideaboard ⋅ IMG_0362 by Belial669, on Flickr Combined with a fair wack of zeolite, bactivate/bactivate+ , seamungus , saturaid all rotary hoed in to about 30cm down. The only downside of preparing it ahead of time has been that the weeds are absoluting thriving in it Life just hasn't given us the time to get out to do much with it since. Spent most of this morning looking at sub-service drip vs sprinklers as we'd like to get that sorted before getting the turf down. The main issue we have is that this is going to be watered from the class A recycled water, so its purple for everything to indicate its not potable water. Having a look around SE water and EPA, seems to indicate that for this class of water it can be used in sprinklers, but i'm considering whether sub surface might be a better idea to keep down the smell (if left to stagnate for a day its quite noticable). So looking at Netafirm bioline AS at the moment, based on having a look around seems to be the go for subsurface. let the investigations continue. Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 6Mar 10, 2011 7:16 pm jetson ..., sir walter grows very quickly when established ... Really? How quickly are we talking about? I thought at least a month in between mowings would be doable ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 7Mar 10, 2011 8:33 pm Don't worry about the weeds. Just dig them through. chuck in the plants and lawn and mulch using mulch from mulchnet.com or your local tree contractor Just use molasses on the new lawn and one the old lawn when it becomes that Growth rates on new lawns can be fast but it all settles down in time. As long as you use very infrequent fertiliser use of the slow release kind only or better still, none. Don't use a catcher and let the clippings feed the soil which then feeds your lawn those nutrients that used to be the clippings Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 8Mar 11, 2011 5:26 am Lex jetson ..., sir walter grows very quickly when established ... Really? How quickly are we talking about? I thought at least a month in between mowings would be doable ... Well mine needs a mow weekly and it sure is thick, no weeds are getting through it at all. I currently mow it on the highest setting on my mower. If I want to mow a little shorter I would need to mow more than once per week. I have used a bit of seasol/powerfeed and worm juice. It is growing af fast as my last kikuyu lawn did. It looks good though as it seems to look even no mater what height it gets to, it must be because of the stiff leaf blade. It doesn't look unkept like some lawns can. It looks great, nice and deep green. My back lawn in emerald kikuyu, which is growing slower. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 9Mar 11, 2011 6:53 am Hmmm ... I hope it's just the initial fast growth from all the feeding etc. Good to hear it's green - just the other day I saw some small patches of turf on display and Palmetto looked the best. Very fine and soft leaf and lush green - all in that exposed poor location next to the road and full sun all day! And Sir W looked just like our current turf ... My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 10Mar 11, 2011 2:31 pm Lex Hmmm ... I hope it's just the initial fast growth from all the feeding etc. Good to hear it's green - just the other day I saw some small patches of turf on display and Palmetto looked the best. Very fine and soft leaf and lush green - all in that exposed poor location next to the road and full sun all day! And Sir W looked just like our current turf ... I reckon they might have had the plots named incorrectly, Sir walter and Palmetto look nearly identical. EZ and couch look finer. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 11Mar 11, 2011 3:01 pm If anyone can pick the difference between Palmetto and Sir Walter that is not in the horticultural industry, they are performing a miracle. Of course representative of the two breeders that own each one will debate and spruik how different they are. Over all, to me they are six of one or a half dozen of the other. Lex if it is growing like that, stop the seasol and powerfeed use. If it is being irrigated, reduce the time its on for. If it is raining a fair bit, then hit the area with some zeolite. In your case, if you manage to find pulverised fine zeolite, even better. They will both be fine though. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 12Mar 11, 2011 4:34 pm Fu Manchu If anyone can pick the difference between Palmetto and Sir Walter that is not in the horticultural industry, they are performing a miracle. Thanks Fu and BK Yeah, I happened to drop there today again and was going to take photos (they are next to each other) but didn't . The difference to me is huge and very obvious unless of course the patches are not really what the plaque says. I even 'walked' thru the Palmetto - it's so inviting Maybe they mislabelled it, or planted totally different turf and never updated the labels. ... should have taken the photo!!! Next time I will Zeolite in Sydney - anyone knows where ? My signature is distracting people from my wise posts ... Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 13Mar 12, 2011 12:34 am Zeolite in Sydney, there's a thread. A turf supplier selling both SirWalter and Palmetto is unusual. Normally they are contracted to one breeder. Kind of like a car dealer selling both Holden and Ford. Get a house with Palmetto and wander down the road about 10 houses down and look at a SirWalter and tell me they don't look different, you'll be wandering up and down the street second guessing your self all day. Side by side, They still look very similar. You sure they have the two marked correctly? look either way both are excellent turf varieties regardless. It is the ongoing care and soil prep that is what makes the difference and gives long term results anyway. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 14Mar 12, 2011 12:35 am My choice is by far, as mentioned over and over and over, Empire Zoysia Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 15Mar 30, 2011 8:38 pm If you put Palmetto and Sir Walter side by side, you will notice the Sir Walter grows much quicker than the Palmetto and needs mowing a lot more often. Recent Department of Primary Industry research showed Palmetto grew up a third less than Sir Walter. That is a big difference to me. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 17Mar 30, 2011 9:15 pm Sir Walter runs faster, and needs more edging. Sapphire runs faster than Palmetto as well, and needs more mowing than Palmetto. Again the DPI research proved all this. Sapphire is a finer texture, and the DPI research showed it was the best in shade. All three will work well, but Palmetto will need less work, if that is what you are looking for. EZ will also be much less work. Re: Mixing grasses - Sir Walter and Empire Zoysia 18Mar 31, 2011 12:57 pm Cheers grasstree, as it turns out we still havent got around to the turf yet, for a number of reasons the main being the continued debate as to how much area to do... Our Build - Places Fairhaven 23+ - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=28045 Our Landscaping - Belial's Backyard - https://forum.homeone.com.au/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=45375 I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 10030 Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. The builder deconstructs the section and rebuilds as per plan /… 7 10682 The HIA contract, in the term & conditions section states that "Commencment" is deemed when the drainage is started or the piers are dug or the slab is formed up (incase… 2 6174 |