Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Apr 20, 2016 10:21 am We're about a month off from completing our build here in Inverell NSW and due to some unforeseen variations to the build we have shifted our turf allowance to the build and will be handling it ourselves.
The builders will still be Laying top soil but then it's up to me. I have a number of questions that I hope I can get some clarity on but maybe I'm just over thinking it. I'll try break it up for ease of reading - Turf selection: The local turf farm supplies eureka kikuyu and sir Walter. Kikuyu isn't even on my radar despite excellent prices (3.50 a meter) but the sirwalter seems a bit out of our budget. Another turf farm about 1.5hours away also has RTF fescue and platinum zosia again both costly options. My question is this, budget wise I REALLY want to try seed I know it's not recommended but I figure I can try seed and if not successful still put down turf. Being that our build will finish around June/July I was planning on spending a month or two on soil prep and then laying seed (recommendations welcome, RTF fescue seems to tick most of my boxes but mckays also has some other good options. Including zoysia seed) I thought I could lay rtf seed in the cool then if its not thriving add some buffalo plugs when things heat up? I also like the look of palmetto. But again the costs of turf seem very high after our build swallowing all our funds. Any comments on suitability and watering use of RTF would be great or other seed varieties. Here is some climate data for Inverell. We get very hot summers and very cold winters sometimes as low as minus 10. Most of the yard will be full sun with some shade in the front entrance, and a section of full shade on the southern side of the house. http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/ ... 6242.shtml - Soil prep: I'm keen on following fu's soil prep guide but am wandering about maintaining drainage levels? Do I get try get the landscape supplier to mix the products in before the builder levels the yard or rotary hoe it and then try get the drainage fall back myself? - Suppliers: I'm not scared to travel a bit to pic supplies up and work near Tamworth so am down that way fairly often but also appreciate the ease and pricing of online retailers. Any recommendations? -Sprinklers: hunter srm 04 vs mprotators? Go. Any general Info and insights would be muchly appreciated. We have a fairly active German Shepard and a 5 month old son with the hope of another child in the future so hopefully a nice user friendly lawn, but i do work away so the amount of time I can spend pampering the lawn is limited. Luckily I have a handy FIL that helps out around the garden. Sorry for the huge post but am finding hard to make decisions on this. Cheers Chris Re: Paging fu and turf experts 2Apr 21, 2016 10:52 am If you REALLY want to seed it then do it. It won't work long term in your climate. It will end up costing you as much if not more than rolling out warm season turf in the form of higher water bills.. You will have a nice lawn in winter though. If budget is an issue then plant out sprigs/runners like everyone used to do before instant turf became common place. Paging fu and turf experts 3Apr 21, 2016 10:59 am So even with a blend including something like buffalo or zoysia to handle the warm weather the seeding won't be effective. I'm getting pretty close to just caving and getting eureka kikuyu. What percentage of lawn would i need to cover the lawn with something like sir Walter? Hoping to put down in September as it gets warmer but need lawn for xmas? Would laying a bed of winter grass as seed and to have some ground cover then adding he turf later be a viable option? Re: Paging fu and turf experts 4Apr 21, 2016 1:24 pm Blending kinda works, it ends up very patchy and clumpy in summer and winter though, as each goes dormant. Can't do this with buffalo though.. You can seed kikuyu in summer if you want. Yes you can put a winter grass down you just need to chemically remove it and dig the soil over again when you want to lay. Basically the more buffalo you have the quicker it fills in. About 4-5 rolls pulled apart into runners or cut into plugs per 100m2. Of you leave competing winter grasses it will take signifigantly longer for the warm season grass to spread. Paging fu and turf experts 5Apr 24, 2016 10:00 am Just wandering how much platinum zoysia will brown off in winter and how will it handle wear from a dog? I know the winter brown can be held off a bit with fert and proper soil prep but we have fairly consistent frosts here. Starting to lean towards palmetto or sapphire as a possibility and establishing from turf laid spread out as recommended. I was told yesterday to lay the turf spread out and then rotary hoe the whole thing but seemed counter intuitive? My other option at the moment is one of the Male sterile kikuyu either village green or kenda which I think will hold up to wear and winter a bit better. To get coverage in say 4 months what percentage of area would need to be turfed? With either the kikuyu or buffalo? Re: Paging fu and turf experts 6Apr 25, 2016 8:41 am Anyone with experience with kenda kikuyu? Seems reasonably priced but does the increased horizontal growth mean more garden infestations? Also how would winter colour compare between kenda, empire and platinum zoysia. I totally agree with everything you have written. Thanks again for your always excellent input and advice. I really enjoy reading your posts cheers Simeon 1 3279 They using concrete or timber sleepers? Timber or steel uprights? Any drainage behind sleeper? 3 5891 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 10048 |