OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics My lawn project

hello boys and girls,

I just wanted to share a few photos of my lawnv / front garden project. As you can see its been a big project which included levelling out the grounds, installing retic, setting up garden beds (railway-sleepers prob weigh a 1t each), planting various hedges + fruit trees + others AND installing schredded grass. To save a bit of $$ I've done most of the work myself and it has been very rewarding seeing it all come together.










Has anyone fine tuned levelled their lawn? whats the best way of doing it? sand of a dry day or?

Hi Hooksey,

It's looking fabulous I must say and doing it all yourself certainly gives you a sense of achievement.

Just one issue I must ask and that is why have you run your lawn up against the house as this is generally a "no no" and this is mainly due to the issue of white ants and giving them easy access to the dwelling. Do you guys in WA have a white ant issue as we do in Adelaide ? or are they not a problem ?

Just as far as levelling is concerned I use straight dry sand and spread it via a large screeder that I made myself. I've just taken a photo of it and posted it below. All you do is look like a horse dragging it around behind you in all different directions until no more sand is built up in the blade area of the screeder, or add more sand as required. I am currently doing a lawn build myself and have just made this one up, it's probably about the 5th one that I've made as they are just too awkward to store and are only made out of builders scrap.

Cheers,
BB

What type of grass is this and how was it propogated?

BB on the mark with the leveling. Straight coarse sand with some leg and arm work. You can also use a drag mat to finish off to help get the sand down into the leaf canopy.

Hi Hooksey and BB,

My congrats also doing all the hard work yourself. It looks great, and will be brilliant when the lawn establishes.

I must admit I agree with BB on the problem of termites...Here is an excerpt from a well known pest extermination site in WA....
"And ideally the area around the house should be paved and garden beds adjacent to the house removed. Railway sleepers make great termite nests as well as old stumps and dead trees, so we recommend their removal as well."
Knowing only too well the extreme damage that termites can cause...plus the fact that you can't insure against the damage....(they can structurally damage a family home in just months) I would seriously consider removal of the sleepers....Forewarned is forearmed, the choice is up to you, mate.

thanks guys for your comments. to answer your questions:

- yes, the lawn is running all the way up to certain parts of the house and we are considering some alternatives to reduce the risk of ants. I have been keeping an eyes on the area where the lawn runs all the way up and i haven't seen any ants but its point that do not consider when i installed the lawn.

- thanks for the photo of your leveller bonnar_bloke. how has the dry sand been working for you? my lawn is not too bumpy so i have been thinking abut using sand as well. However, im concerned that straight sand may reduce the 'fertility' of the lawn. Whats you experience?

- before putting the lawn in i did a fair bit or research re types of grass and we decided that we wanted a soft leaf buffalo named palmetto. We had straigh buffalo at our old house but we did not like it. This is much softer and still has the same benefits of your straight buffalo.

- to save some $$ we decide to buy two bags of shredded lawn from one of the local suppliers here in WA. I simply just spread the shredded grass across my lawn and rolled it in. I will shortly post a photo of latest status. Im very please that the grass is currently (ALMOST) fully covering our lawn area.

- THansk Deejay for your warning re the sleepers and terminates. I think i will have to organise for a prof permit inspector to come out and have a look re any damage and get his advise. Thanks again for the heads up.

cheers guys

and here is the photo

Hi Hooksey,

Sand is the perfect material to use as it has very good drainage and in time turns into soil. If you ever look at Football Park (Aami Stadium) at West Lakes in South Australia, this stadium playing surface was totally built on sand and as such was known to be Australia's best playing surface, especially after rain as it took about 30 minutes and it was totally payable opposed to the MCG and many other major sporting venues. The secret is to do this around scarifying time when you get the surface back to base level, then just drag the leveller around and in a few weeks you'll have a perfectly flat lawn area.

Going back to what DeeJay has said, and that is you never put non living timber into the ground as its an open invitation to white ants and once they have been invited to the party they certainly know how to gate crash and trash a joint. Any pest controller will tell you that. Just ignore all that crap that the lifestyle shows on TV ram down our throats as they are after ratings and won't pay for the damages done to your home.

Cheers,
BB