Thread: What's the Best Turf

I notice you didnt indicate where you live, which makes lawn recommendations a little hard.

Having said that, I am in Canberra and have Sir Walter in the back (that we laid) and Canberra Blend (rye/fescue blend I think) in the front (laid by previous owners)

I can not speak highly enough of the Sir Walter. It remains green with approximately 1/4 of the water necessary to keep the front green, is reasonably frost tollerant (it did get hit last year by the early frosts) and hardy wearing if you can spread foot traffic over a wide area.

We have an 800mm gap between garden beds that we subsequently have put steppers into as the traffic was too constant for the grass to take.

It is low maintenance requiring about 1/2 the fertilizer of the front and both get mowed weekly at the moment. About once a month in winter.

Hope this helps you.

Thanks for the replies guys, I'm going to try a turf farm south of Melbourne tomorrow with some of the suggestions listed above and see what i like and hopefully make a decision. Im probably still a couple of weeks off as im waiting for my mate to return with his bobcat to level the area. As much as paving the area sounds a good option at the moment, i still think there's nothing like the smell of fresh cut grass on a saturday afternoon

Stay away from Tall Fescue. I put in around 150 m2 of it and it is the weakest grass I have ever seen. It may look great, is a lovely green, but that is where it finishes.

I does not stand up well to traffic, if the dog pees on it it dies, and it is not self repairing.

I am now using kikuyu to repair all areas that need doing, with the hope that it will eventually take over from the fescue.

Originally Posted by want2learn

i still think there's nothing like the smell of fresh cut grass on a saturday afternoon

That would be the Hippies next door.

Our back yard is Rye, with a bit of Fescue, but the front lawn is Paspalum, Cape Weed and Couch in Summer, but in winter we get a nice spread of Bindii which keeps it looking nice and green. The front slopes away and faces west where it catches the prevailing wind, after many earlier attempts at establishing a quality lawn only to loose it every hot summer we gave up.

I would have to say what we are left with is pretty drought tolerant until this year when we even lost the Cape Weed.

Next year we intend to sow down Buffalo as a last ditched attempt to have a real lawn.

John.

We have Sir Walter in our back garden & would have to say it "looks great" stands up well to drought/heavy foot traffic/shade etc...I don't think you could go wrong with it!!

Go with a mix of clover and bindii.
When one dies off the other takes over and will give an all year green cover.
The clover will also attract the local bees (put a plate of water out for them too) and the binbii gives the high traffic areas a rest

I have had about 100 meters of sir walter down for a month. The guy who put it down laid some gypsum then about 10cm of really nice dirt then a little fertiliser. It took about one week to look fantastic and still does. Not much water needed to get going. The guy who laid it said preparation was the key to this stuff.

I have already started driving my lawn tractor all over with no problems.

I have no hesitation in recommending it. The only down side is that it grows quite quick and needs frequent mowing. HOwever I am told this slows down after about 12 months.

we had blue couch out the front and green couch out the back.

now with all our water restrictions we have now have is a mixture of dirt and weeds only
all the turf is dead

we ended up making the whole front yard a garden full of stuff that doesn't need watering

Hey guys I do a fair bit of turfing jobs as part of my business (landscaping) in Melbourne.

I usually recommend & lay Sir Walter Buffalo particularly with the drought conditions of late, lately I have used Palmetto as it has a softer textured leaf blade, it is the US bred version.

The key with buffalo is to have a good prep of base soil, addition of organic soil, sprinkle on some water granules before laying, and put a layer of washed sand over the top, so much so that the whole lot looks like a beach. It looks weird for a few days but the sand acts as a mulch, holds the turf down and aids in turf roll spreading and establishment. The bugger with buffalo is that the roots are as tough as wire and are hard to cut, although they arent as invasive as couch which send sub-soil runners. It also goes a bit light green/yellow during winter which is a bit of dormancy, you can top dress with sandy loam and put some rye or blue seed in there for winter colour.

Fescue is great looking, but needs more water and not as hard wearing. Rye probably a bit worse.

A great idea to have a decent water tank before laying, fresh water will always be better to water with, it has no chlorine which can dry things a bit quicker.

G'day,
Just thought I'd drag this thread up again as I have the best part of 1000 sqm to turf. We're in absolutely no hurry for it to look good and would rather not fork out several $k to turf the whole lot in one go.

Does anyone know if grass plugs are available in Oz? I've seen quite a bit about them on US websites, but not a lot here. Alternatively, could you cut turf into say 100x100 sections and use these instead of the plugs?

Cheers

I always find discussions about lawns amusing. I hate the stuff and try and grow plants where I can, or totally ignore the stuff (lawnmowers being very polluting). Remarkably I always have a good looking lawn. I think my back yard is cooch (the stuff that has long runners). i don't water it, not even grey water and mow it only when I start losing the kids!! It thrives on neglect. I use old bricks for a border which seems to keep it out of garden areas, except where it grows over the top, but you can just pull it out before it gets too much of a hold. Even dug it all up for some plumbing work a few years back, took no time at all to cover over. Do you want me to dig some up and send to you????
Cheers
McBlurter

Yes please.

For 1000 sqm that'll be a few thousand plugs. Your tongue might get a little dry licking all those envelopes. It might need a little 'lubrication' while you're doing it

Cheers

I put down about 120m2 of sir walter around 3 years ago under two large mango trees where the grass never grew due to the trees shading the area for most of the day.

Since Brisbane has had the drought, the rest of the yard thaty doesn't receive a water from the washing machine has turned to dirt while the sir walter although has gone brown is at least providing some ground cover and returns to green after a good drench which it has been almost 4 months since that happened.

I'd agree with good preparation since you can spend a foortune on it, and watch out for lawn grubs. I've had them destroy large patches and friends with Sir Walter have had problems with the grubs. Spray every 3-4 weeks when they're active.