OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Lawn Care & Maintenance New Playground for all my Scotty's

Hi roverdude45,

I don't know about it being the proper way but it sure is the cheapest. If I had done it in roll out turf then it would've cost me about 1.75 K, but the way I've done it cost me around $68.

Honestly, in the early to mid 1980's this was the only way of planting Santa Ana Couch. You bought it in 12 inch squares and it was around 3 inches thick, thus it had a good root system attached and when cut up into one inch square sods and planted it would spread rather quickly as it still had a good root system attached. All you had to do was cut it's head off weekly to encourage sideways spread rather than upward growth. I did a lawn back in 1986 which had full coverage within 4 weeks which isn't possible nowadays.

Now, basically all you buy now is roll out in 2.1m lengths and the thickness is only 1.3 inch thick which means most of the root system is still with the lawn farms and all they do is top dress the sliced out areas and 6 months later they have another crop ready to harvest. It's a win win for them.

So with such a reduced thickness when you cut it into sods it spends well over a month in self survival mode due to having its root system cut away from it and thus is the reason why lawn sellers tell you to keep roll out lawn very wet for the first 4 to 5 weeks while the root system attempts to re-establish itself.

If you look at the first post I put up with the initial photos you'll see that the lawn was planted in mid October 2015 and now we have full coverage and it's mid January, so thus why it's taken so long, but I will say that many folks in my street had a bit of a dig at me on why I did it the way I did, but when they walk past now they are full of compliments on the result so far and also when told what my outlay was they are staggered compared to what they paid for roll out and to also have the job done by a contractor.

I guess one can always say self gratification is the cheapest form of pleasure. LOL !!!!

Cheers,
BB

PS. Just to answer your question on sub-surface irrigation, no I don't as I could have issues when scarification is done and tubes may get hit or sliced.

That result speaks for itself really! Me and a mate were looking at your thread post dates and 3 months doesn't seem that bad!

I've just built a place here in Perth and the front landscaping you get 'free' as part of the developer package. Means you don't have to pay for it directly out of your pocket - so everyone just gets it done. But they're typically smashing these jobs out and the results aren't anywhere near as good.

Mine is coming along OK. I leveled it out as much as I could and mixed in some stuff to give it a boost before the landscaper guys came in (although I see in the thread you've never had a problem turfing on sand!).

Can I ask does it need to be top dressed soon after full coverage? Is it lumpy at all in between the gaps or does it even out?

I don't see any retic heads in the pics, do you handwater - it looks so even? I recently replaced all my heads with the MP rotators because we're close to the coast and most of the water was getting lost to the sea breeze on normal spray heads. Results seem to be good so far - less dead spots and lawn is making a comeback where it was previously patchy.

Hi roverdude45,

It's a very interesting bunch of questions you bring up.

I had another resident in the street stop yesterday to congratulate me on the "now" best lawn in the street, honestly I get rather embarrassed by these comments as I know that the lawn is basically like a young child just entering primary school with much development to go before it leaves school.

If you look closely you can see the original mother plants by the light dotted bits. This is from constantly mowing it low and sending a message to the original sod to grow sideways instead of upwards. You are not really achieving much by filling in the low spots early in the period of the lawns development as we are trying to achieve the same thickness in the low spots.

This all takes time and there are no real short cuts. At the beginning of the next season I shall be doing a harsh cut back to the soil level and then doing a re-screeding of sand over the top of the whole lawn area and then applying fertiliser, then within 3 weeks I should have a totally even surface that will have a groomer reel used on it every second cut just to keep it thinner and not thatch up.

Currently I am cutting the lawn with my 14 inch SB 45 every two days.



Cheers,
BB

Hey BB

I swear last time I had a quick read of your reply there was more about that car! Sounds like you're passionate about at least one other thing than turf/mowers!

I've had a few buzz boxes myself growing up, 2 or 3 180sx's, s15, evo, skylines. My old housemate had an rx7 fd and boy did that thing go. Getting older now though (past 30) and now have one car between me and the missus...lol. Cx-5 to make it easier towing/transporting stuff for the house. Although I'm sure she was sold on it more for the potential baby carrying capacity!

But back to your lawn! So how do you water!? I couldn't see any retic heads in any of your pics and its got me bugged!

Roverdude45

Great job BB! Those progress shots were fantastic

After doing some research and looking at your lawn in this thread I think I'll go with Santa Anna over windsor green. Also I've been told by many people that if you have kids then Windsor Green is useless as its growth rate is so slow it doesn't repair in time

Hi roverdude,

Yes you are correct that there was quite a bit extra about the car but it was basically written for you and once I knew you had read it I edited the post as it's really not relevant to the thread. Hope this explains it for you.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi Cirillo,

Thanks for the words of encouragement as I appreciate it. I've also had many comments from most of my neighbours in the street and I have to say it's becoming a bit embarrassing as I now have some pretty high standards to keep displaying.

I think you've made a wise choice in normal SA Couch. Now all you have to do is decide on how you're going to do it ? either like myself and only spending $68.00 on lawn rolls and cutting it up in to plugs, or shell out over $1,000 in using roll out turf.

I must admit for instant gratification (now that sounds a bit sus) go with the roll out, but if you're a bit more of a saver then plugs are the only way to go. The only issue with plugging your lawn is that you've now missed the season for it to grow and gain full coverage. This needs to be done later October early November.

There is also another way that it can be done and that is to shred instant turf through a chipper machine (mulcher) and then rake it into your prepared surface and spreading a bit more soil over the top and watch it grow with plenty of watering. If I had my time again I would use the shredding method as it eliminates the scenario of mother plant bumps in the lawn which I'm going to have to deal with over the next season until I've scarified them out at the beginning of the next season.

Cheers,
BB.

Being mid to late summer and having small kids that are bursting to get on to the lawn I think roll out is my only option. Being just under 50m2 it's not too bad. I've called Paul munns and they'll deliver for $9 a square meter. Garden grove are around the same price. I grew up and work in Virginia (live in the western suburbs) and there's a turf grower there but he's not too keen to supply direct. I've got trucks so I'd be happy to pick up myself. Oh we'll no biggie.

What irrigation do you use? I was thinking underground irrigation to water the roots directly

HI Cirillo,

I use above ground irrigation with my pipework being far enough down and also being on the outer edges as below ground irrigation is just too susceptible to being hit when scarifying every couple of years.

As far as lawn choice is concerned, I pretty much thought that roll out would be your only option at this late stage of the season.

Cheers,
BB

Ahh this explains it


This sounds like a real interesting way of doing it.

How often do you scarify BB? Is it as required or do you do it periodically?

Hi roverdude45,

I will be scarifying every two years as I hate SA Couch getting high and spongy, also SA Couch doesn't like being thatchy as it prevents the sunlight getting to the base of it.

Cheers,
BB.

Hi Bonnar_Bloke and others
Glad I came across this thread with your guidance. That is an awfully impressive lawn that you have coming along. Your thread and replies have also answered a number of questions for me regards my new turf

The one question it did raise however, you say you will be scarifying every 2 yrs. Is there a reason scarifying doesn't happen every yr? I too like to keep my lawn free of thatch and find certainly with the kikuyu out the front, I need to scalp it each yr and even then find that 2/3 of the way through the growing season I end up filling a 240 litre wheelie bin full of clippings from just 35 sq metres of nature strip in a single mow

Between you and Simrice's ideas of a grooming roller.....well let's just say I feel I'm learning. Thank you both
Perhaps the grooming roller negates the need for scarifying each yr. Any and all help appreciated
Regards
Mondays (Joe)

Hi Joe,

Firstly welcome to the ODK Forum and I'm glad you're enjoying it.

Now,

The only reason I suggested every second year is many people find it an arduous task to do it every year, thus every second year would be the furthest I'd leave it, 3 years is just way too much. My neighbour across the road hasn't done his for 5 years and he has 125mm of built up thatch and is wondering why his lawn won't green up, basically it's strangling itself.

Yes you are correct, if you are using a grooming reel every so often this will reduce the amount scarifying that will need to be done, but remember scarifying also thins out the root system as it goes subsurface while grooming doesn't.

I'm really glad that you benefited from this thread as we don't have a lawn maintenance sub-forum at this present stage, but we're working on that. The more support we get the more likely it is to happen.

BTW I haven't added the final full coverage shots as the lawn has just gone into dormant mode and as such I'll do those at the beginning of the next season while the lawn jumps into super green mode.

Cheers,
BB.

Looks as though the forum gods have provided.
A huge thanks
The key now I guess, is to keep it an active place
Mondays (Joe)

any update pics or too early into spring still?

Hi Mikeo,

Not as yet as it hasn't become active as yet and I'm going to cut it right back to the base level soil, top dress, re-screed and fertilise, once that's done it should be super green 4 weeks later. Then I'll put up the last set of photos. The little Japanese Weeping Maples have jumped into spring mode and look really lovely though.

I haven't cut the lawn since last Autumn when I fertilised it for the winter, yes it still looks lovely and green, even though it's still in dormant mode, but it's now way too high.

Cheers,
BB.

i gotta swing by for a looksee soon , last time it was just on the get go , and looked good even then , i get depressed looking at mine lol

Here are some progress shots that marry up with earler photos in this thread. Now one has to take into consideration that all the lawn is only 11 months old apart from the lawn which is adjacent to to the lattice type fence which is a season older.




That's the whole lawn compacted down hard into the trailer






and the two "Japanese Weeping Maples" seems to have survived their fertiliser to the bare roots shock treatment. At $150 per tree the wife wasn't too impressed in having an impending funeral for them.



Cheers,
BB.

Looking good BB.

The process of educating on this site is never ending for me. Thanks for the information brother

Hey BB how's your lawn looking now?

Mine is starting to green up really well now, I think spring has finally sprung in my backyard. I had to fix a couple of holes in my irrigation 2 weeks ago and it has almost completely fixed itself already.