Firstly sorry about the "very very" late reply as I must've missed your question above when you posted it.
*************** Yes October is around the normal time to start reworking couch lawns. Depending on how the season is travelling you could nearly start in mid September, but again this is depending on ground temperature. Last year was a very late start for all of us in Adelaide while this year was an early start.
To Everyone Else that's been watching this thread,
Now as I was incapacitated late August with Surgery, I wasn't allowed to do anything for around 8 weeks which really urked me big time as it was just around the time slot to do the follow up scalping and top dressing for the front lawn to eliminate those bumps that the original plugs left when the lawn was originally planted.
Anyway I've pushed myself and along with some good friends of mine which pitched in to help, I've just managed to do what is absolutely necessary for this season. Yes I agree it's a tad late, actually around 2 months late, but it's the best I could do apart from giving it a total miss this season and leaving the lawn looking like a disused thatched up golf course.
The following photos were taken this afternoon with the scalping work having being carried out last Thursday (9/11/2017) and the top dressing on the Saturday (11/11/2017).
I just need to follow up with some fertiliser now, but with the Adelaide temperatures currently reaching 36 degrees at the moment one can't use any fertiliser otherwise the lawn will be burnt by the temperature created with the fertiliser. That will be done in two days time when we are back to 23 degrees.
Check out the following shots in the next few posts as the file manager would only allow me 2 shots per post, bit annoying I must say.
BTW. A big thank you to both David and Justen that helped me out when I really needed it.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Now the Following two shots are of the lawn that was a season ahead of the front and side lawns.
As can be seen it has sunk above the storm water pipe that's located underneath and thus needed only to be top dressed in those areas as it had its major dressing done last season. When running the Scotty over this lawn it is like running over a floating timber floor, it's that smooth, whilst the front still had it's mother plants bouncing the mower around a fair bit. That should be now eliminated with the current work that has just been done.
Now it's just a constant watering game and it should be at its best just before Christmas, better late than never I guess.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Well here we are on the 11th. of December and it's all looking good apart from a few rather strange small crop circles which I can't explain. I'm starting to think a bit of sabotage from someone within the street, as it seems to look a lot like the result of a spray bottle as that's what the circular pattern reflects. Anyway give it another 3 weeks and those patches will have grown over and thus out of sight.
Jealousy is a really bad emotion which many people just can't deal with in a controlled manner.
Anyway here are this mornings shots, not forgetting that the scalping work was done nearly 2 months later than it originally should've been.
The 20 inch Scotty is loving the new smooth ride, as am I.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Lastly a bit more "Lawn Porn" with the side lawn that's nearly a putting green, well so some people in the street think and wish to use it for practice.
This will probably be the last installment of photos from this project as I've pretty much gone through the full cycle and what is achievable with a lot of work over a couple of seasons.
I hope that this inspires some more Scott Bonnar Owners / Restorers and other brands of Cylinder mower enthusiasts.
Enjoy your Lawn !
Cheers, BB.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
Bloody good job BB, the lawn [garden] looks fantastic !
Great to see a good lawn now days.
Most people these days are too busy in their theatre rooms or on devices to bother with lawns which is a real shame because nothing looks better than a nicely mowed lawn.
Great for the kids to play on and it cools the house down as well, therefore saving money on the aircon LOL
Thank you very much for your kind words of support, I'm nearly blushing. Yes it's been a long and arduous process, but it was all worth it in the end I guess.
Now it's all the ongoing maintenance that has to be done regularly.
As they always say no pain no gain.
Cheers and thanks again, Bonnar_Bloke.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
You know the best thing about having a good lawn is the exercise you get from mowing it [ cheaper than going to the gym] and the enjoyment from seeing how good it looks LOL
Guys I�ve just joined as a new registered member. I have a 17� SB Model 045-581. I recently installed a new Palmetto lawn on my verge, front and back yards. I need to cut this at a height of about 30-35mm but the max adjustment on my SB only does this at about 20mm. I leve in Perth and its 35 degrees today so I can�t have the cut too low. Any suggestions on how I can do a modification to the height adjuster to increase the cut height? Many thanks
I've never heard of anyone having an issue on Buffalo Lawn with a Model 45, in actual fact many 1960's lawns were cut using the faithful Scotty and in actual fact many Scotty's were bought purely because of the client having a large Buffalo Lawn and wanting a self driving mower.
Anyway the only way I know of how to extract an extra bit of height out of a model 45 is to remove the threaded adjuster shaft and run a die over it and increase the thread length to provide a bit of extra pull on the roller frame.
The only issue I can see here is that the roller frame will want to pull the shaft at a bit of an angle. Personally I've never had the need to raise the height anywhere near its limit of travel, thus I've never had the need to modify anything in that area of the mower.
I guess you might be the pioneer here so can you please report back with your results so that it can be documented.
Cheers, BB.
Edit.........................
Regarding this answer to the above post there are now modified front roller frames being fabricated and available on eBay for sale. This will give anyone plenty of extra height.
Cheers, BB.
Last edited by Bonnar_Bloke; 03/01/1904:47 PM.
I live a 24 Hour lifestyle, but every now and again I seem to fall asleep, well at least that's what my wife tells me.
