A luscious lawn landscape is one of life’s most simple pleasures.
But any backyard will only ever be as a good as it is managed.
To give your lawn the best start, and the best chance to thrive all year round without you having to be a slave to it – check out some handy hints from our local team of turf professionals at Coolabah Turf.
Site preparation
The best lawn is in the best preparation.
You can’t afford to skimp here.
Ensure existing weeds are sprayed out and physically removed from the site to minimise future weed issues. Although turf is a great weed mat when installed in an instant form (turf supplied in a slab helps block out the weeds) and will give you the best chance at enjoying a weed free yard, weeds are sometimes a normal part of horticulture and need to be managed ongoing.
Ensure the soil depth of the area you intend to place your new lawn on top of is at least 100mm – 150mm deep to enable the root system to establish well.
Use a top quality soil. This will help improve the level of drought tolerance of your lawn (more moisture retentive = less watering) and better drainage if it has a healthy mix of sand and soil.
Install an irrigation system
Protect your landscape investment and install an irrigation system. The additional time and money will pay to set up an automated system will take the guess work out of watering your newest member of your family. While all Coolabah Turf varieties are drought tolerant, and once establish have minimal watering requirements, turf is still a living plant. Adequate water inputs will determine if your lawn will thrive or just survive our harsh Central Victorian summers.
Choosing the right grass for you
Install an appropriate turf variety that is best suited or most proven for your region and for your local environment.
Got shade? Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo is the king of turf in shade. Because of its amazing shade tolerance, Sir Walter DNA Certified is our number one seller and best performer for Bendigo backyards. It is easiest to maintain too – so you can just mow, blow and go once its established.
Nullarbor Couch and our Eureka Kikuyu varieties are our number one sellers for public parks and gardens or sports fields at your local oval or school.
Frequent mowing
One simple key to a great looking lawn is frequent mowing. Try to never take more than about one third of the leaf off in any single mow. Frequent mowing will suppress that upright growth habit and train your lawn to grow laterally which will help improve its density and assist further to block out those unwanted weeds.
Watering
The science behind watering is simple. Once established, train your lawn to need less water, by giving it less water. Healthy happy lawns should only require watering once a week for most of the spring, summer and autumn months of the year and winter will not require any watering at all. During extreme temperatures (consecutive days of 40 degrees during February!) you might give it an additional watering or two to help it through. Watering requirements will vary depending on soil depth, soil type, and seasonal conditions and the amount of wear and tear the surface is enduring. Most people fail to water for long enough, and fall into the trap of watering for 10 minutes every day. Tough love on your lawn should see it thrive on a single watering once a week but for longer periods (30-40 mins – 1hour) depending on rates of pressure on your irrigation system and other environmental factors.
Fertilising
A healthy happy lawn should only need applications of fertiliser in Autumn to help prepare it for the onslaught of cooler winter temperatures. A health lawn with great density will be more effective at resisting winter weed invasion and require less weeding the other side of the season. We recommend a seasonal application of fertiliser also at the start of spring to help it recover from winter.
If your lawn becomes stressed from dogs, backyard cricket or other activities at other times of the year it may require additional applications to help it repair and recover more quickly.
