This season past has been all about getting back to basics and with some time freed up, putting that into the lawns and gardens.
We laid Winter Green couch 25 years ago and the first action I took was to buy a reel mower from a guy trying to mow buffalo who was selling it (through the Trading Post) because it didn't pick up the leaves - DOH! Trying to not reveal my excitement, we agreed on $400.
For the first 24 years, I was content to simply throw a bit of fertiliser every now and then - mow once a week if I could be bothered - water when it looked dry - and generally not put a lot of effort into it. The past 9 months have been very different and in that time I've found this informative forum and a whole raft of other online resources have enabled me to form my own plan. I'm pleased to say the turf is looking the best it ever has and given me the inspiration to do more...
Dates weren't documented, but as a guide, the overall timeline has been:-
Aug - buy Red Rover for $350. Use it as main mower and Kermit Rover repurposed as groomer. Sept (end) - grooming reel put to use and lawns scalped, Scotts slow release applied and watered often. Oct - early on was rather wet so no need to water, with some compacted areas receiving the fork treatment. Lawn greening well. Pre emergent for crab grass and Poa (Knighthawk Prodiamine) and also started using a proper soil wetter. Made the highly scientific "steel bar with screw" measuring tool and put to good use. Nov - Starting to mow at 13mm height twice a week, rains dried up and watering at 30mm to 40mm weekly. Lawn grub treatment and organic fertiliser laid down. Killed off a 40sqm section of turf that looked 'crap'. Dec - mowing 3 times a week at 10mm and loving the result! Bought some humic acid to be applied along with soils wetters and seasol. Cut a 50mm wide and about 5m long section of turf out to be replanted in the 40sqm section. Dug holes and used plugs of about 50x50mm. Jan - Lots more water and the turf is responding well. Continued low mow 3 times a week. More organic fertiliser, wetter, humic etc. Feb - Same as Jan. Scotts Fert on the new section and runners now going everywhere. Laid sand over most of them to persuade them to take root and its stating to fill in. Mar - mow twice a week until the last week where only once. More wet weather around so not much watering needed. Org fert, wetter, humic etc etc. Bought a new DeWalt battery hedge trimmer and took to the murraya, gardenias, buxus, brunfelsia etc to neaten everything up. All cuttings are put through my muncher and spread in the garden beds. Started digging up old garden edging as another project in the making... Planted test area of Dichondra down one side of the house with too much shade for lawn to see how it handles the cold seasons. Pool solar heating sprung 2 leaks and started spraying the washing line. Countess not impressed! Fixed immediately. Apr - raise mower height quarter turn each week and mowing weekly where catcher is luck to be about one-third full. Scotts fert + humic put down. Groomer restore started. 40sqm section responding well. Pre emergent laid down separately. Pool pump 'died'. Brought into work where the bench tech replaced the condenser and we're good to go again. May - plan is to keep raising mower till I hit 15mm. Our Winters are fairly mild and the lawn should stay quite green through the next 5 months. Finish groomer and start on main mower restoration. Both are "every dayers" so it will be mainly tearing them down, getting rid of the crud in places not normally reached, fix any bits, re-grease, paint and put back together.. Possibly switch over motors between them. June to Aug - not a lot to be done. Maybe a fortnightly mow to tidy the tops. Definitely on weed patrol and very happy with the pre-emergent results so far as I'm not seeing any early signs of Poa at all.
I've started recording 10cm depth temperatures on the diary to see how it correlates to what I have in the plan.
Other projects to be thought through first:-
* convert pump sprayer to battery powered model to give consistent pressure and therefore application of contents. Teejets bought so far... * building a working platform for the mowing units to be raised for ease of access. Saw an earlier post using saw horses and am thinking of a steel alternative, possibly with a winch, light etc. * watering system for dichondra. * extend irrigation to front lawn sections in conjunction with new retaining wall/edging. * work on a more detailed plan for the garden beds and dial-in the Vegepods to be an all year producer.
Attached is a draft plan of the areas and I'm keen to see if next season is an improvement on the one ending now..
Youtube has been a good resource for at worst making me think about what I am trying to achieve. Channels like Lawn Tips and Connor Ward keep me informed if not entertained but there is a lack of low mowing couch/bermuda videos around. I find the Americans (Doc) think 25mm is low - but that's just not even close...
