Thread: How to make a good lawn

Following on from the Mowing thread:

It doesnt have to be a huge waste of water or overly time consuming if you use :

a. The right variety,
b. The right Irrigation,
c. Correct weed control with selective herbasides,
d. The use wetting agents,
e. Aerating the soil and relieving compaction.
f. Cut a little a lot

If you use Couch or Buffallo varieties or even Kikuyu or Seaside paspalam (a new modified variety) you wont need to use much water in comparison to the winter grass varieties that they sell in the boxes of seed in Bunnings that germinate quickly but take a lot of water to survive.

Common couch and Kikuyu can take a bit to keep it out of your gardens but with a bit of round up, a whipper snipper and the occasional weeding it's not that bad.

Subsurface Irrigation only costs to set up and once its going relies on gravity feed and only uses water when the turf needs it and is mostly used in parklands and ovals.

Keeping weeds out will stop the turf from having to compete with the weeds for nutriants.

Wetting agents break the surface tension of the soil and allow better penetration to get deeper into the roots and slows down evaporation.

Aeration (use a fine tined pitch fork) allows air to get into the roots allowing roots to grow easilly and relieving compaction allows them somewere to go.

Cutting no more than 1/3 of the leaf length stops disese (sp?) getting into the plant so you cut a little bit of the top regularly.

Also make sure you catch your clip as it doesnt rot down quick enough not to build up a thatch layer.

Originally Posted by Xavie

well, I'm not sure I agree on catching the cuttings as I have found since it has been mulched into the ground as it is cut with a mulch mower the grass grows nicer and needs less water and nutrient. I never find it does any damage.

Xav

Im talking about pure lawns, not blended lawns with stuff like pasture grasses (Rye/Fescue) which generally take more water to survive than the stolonated varieties like the ones mentioned previous and with that and with high cutting hights clip is more likley to not make much difference except that over a long period of time it will creat a black layer in the soil which will stop water from penatrating into the soil so that rain will just run off instead of sinking in.

Im also talking from 12 years experience in golf course maintenance, more on the machinery side but I have to know how to grow grass to make it look good.

There is more to a good looking lawn than just what you see, it may look good for a year but if you dont look after it properly thats all you will get out of it.

If you look after it (and it doesnt take that much more effort) in the correct way then it will last a lifetime and use much less water and chemicals than one that is not.