Month: June 2021

Our gardens are our pets window to the outside world, with many sniffs to smell and places to run. To keep our lawns safe for our four-legged friends there are five simple steps that you can take to make your outdoor space pet friendly.

The 5 simple steps to keeping a pet friendly lawn are:

1. Avoid toxic plants
2. Have a fenced in area
3. Use a pet friendly turf variety
4. A mix of shaded and sunny spots
5. Use pet friendly lawn care products

Want to know more?

Step 1 – Avoid toxic plants

Surprisingly, several plants can harm your pets. Their severity ranging from mild rashes, stomach pain, mouth ulcers to vomiting, irritation to the mouth, and convulsions, these requiring urgent veterinary care.

Although most of the time our pets won’t be interested in these plants, it is important to be aware of these plants if they are in your garden.

Some plants that can be toxic for pets include:

• Bird of paradise
• Aloe
• Tulips
• Daffodils
• Most plants with bulbs
• Ivy
• Lilies
• Brunfelsia (yesterday, today, tomorrow)
• Gum trees
• Blue green algae
• Rhubarb

For a more extensive list please click here.

Step 2 – Have a fenced in area

Having a safe fenced in area for your dog to run around in will help stop your pet from getting into mischief.

When installing a fence, you want it to be both practical and look great! There is a variety of options available to suit all budgets, ranging from timber, iron, and wire fencing just to name a few.

If you have an existing fence that is failing to keep your pets inside, walk the boundary and check for any possible escape routes.

Step 3 – Use a pet friendly turf variety

Humans are not the only ones who love going out and relaxing on the lawn, our pets do too! So, when looking for the best turf variety for your home, it is important to consider not only your needs but your pets too!

TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda is a fast-repairing turf variety. This means if the lawn is going to receive a lot of wear from pets and kids, it will be able to repair itself fast. This turf variety has a soft fine leaf that is great to touch and feels great underfoot.

Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo is a hardier grass and performs well in high wear areas. Sir Walter is great with pets and kids, has a soft broadleaf, is low allergenic, and is weed resistant.

Step 4 – Mix of shaded and sunny spots

Having both shaded and sunny spots throughout your lawn is important to keep your pets happy.

On a hot summer day, shaded areas are a great place for our pets to cool off. To help create more shaded areas in your garden you can plant some trees, or even add some furniture that your pets can go underneath.

Sunny areas allow for your pets to soak up the sun on a cool winter day.

Step 5 – Pet friendly lawn care products

When it comes to using lawn care products, it is important to know if the products you are using around your pets are safe.

Firstly, always read and follow the label’s instructions. If you are unsure of anything, please confirm with your supplier for further details.

Granular fertilisers are safe to use around pets if they are applied as per the application rate and are watered correctly into the lawn/earth. Once this is done, the granules are very difficult to access. But it is always best to keep pets off the lawn for 24 hours after using a granular product on the lawn.

Once a liquid fertiliser has dried and absorbed into the leaf you are fine to let your pets return to the lawn. This can take a few hours depending on the weather.

As chickens will peck into the soil profile, it is best to stick to using a liquid fertiliser.

For more information on using fertilisers and granular products around pets, please click here.

Avoid using bated products for snails, mice, insects, and other pests as they can be fatal. If your pet does have contact with one of these baited products, seek veterinary advice immediately.

For more advice on lawn care with pets, check out our other blogs here.

Plants and hedges around a lawn can help bring the finishing touches to a garden. They are a great way to help personalise your home to help make it unique from the other houses on your street. They can be used to help soften edges around the garden and lawn while providing a contrast in texture and colour.

While the choices are endless when it comes to choosing plants, we have put together a list of our favourites. These are Monkey Grass, Agapanthus, Magnolias, and hedges.

Key considerations

But first, just like lawns, different plants will grow better in different conditions. Some things to consider are:

• What are your garden design goals?
• What are you wanting to achieve? Privacy barrier, visual border, separation between different levels etc.
• How much sunlight does the area receive?

Monkey Grass

Monkey grass is a great plant for creating borders around your lawn. This perennial grows 12 inches tall and is best suited for part shade part sun areas. This is a low maintenance clumping plant and will not spread to other areas of the garden and lawn.

Agapanthus

If your area is in full sun and are after a plant that can withstand heat and drought, agapanthus is a great choice! They have dark green strap-like foliage and usually grow in clumps. Their flowers come out in spring in several shades blue and white. There are many varieties available, with each growing at different heights and different colours.

Magnolias

Magnolia trees will grow great alongside a fence line. They will come to bloom in spring, with either pink or white flowers that have a sweet fragrance. Their leaves are large and oval shaped with smooth edges. Magnolias prefer part-shade to full sun. Planting near a house or fence will allow then to get both sun and shade throughout the day.

Hedges

Hedges are one of the more popular options when it comes to planting around a lawn. As there is a huge range of plants to choose from when growing a hedge, there is bound to be an option that suits your gardens needs.

Small hedges

Low growing hedges are great for edging around paths, garden features and add another visual layer between the lawn and other high growing plants.

Buxus

Buxus is a popular choice when it comes to hedging. It has small leaves, allowing its foliage to grow compact and dense. This growing habit allows it to shaped and sculpted, making it an ideal edging and border plant as it can be sculpted to fit in all areas of the garden.

There are a few different varieties of Buxus available on the market. To see which is best for you and your garden, have a chat to your local garden centre.

Dwarf Nandina

Nandina is a small and compact plant with beautiful leaf colours year-round. In winter, there colour even becomes brighter and more vibrant! This is a hardy plant that can survive heat and low temperatures. There are a few different varieties of Nandina available, with different colourings and growing habits.

Larger hedges

Larger hedges are a great to help block out wind and even noise! They also help provide more functional benefits in creating separate areas within a garden and privacy from neighbours and your street.

Lily Pilly

Lily Pillies are popular option when it comes to larger hedges. As they are native plants they do grow best in the Australian environment. In summer, Lily Pillies will produce a bright white flower that will later grow into a berry. Their thick glossy foliage makes them a great option for hedging. 

Murraya

Murraya is another popular hedging option across Australia. Its white flowers have an orange scent and bloom in late summer early autumn. Their flowers can also appear after periods of heavy rainfall. Murraya has a dense growing habit and has dark green foliage, perfect for providing a privacy screen.

For more information on choosing the best plants for your garden, have a chat to your local garden centre.

To find contact details for your local accredited turf supplier visit here.

Lawn Solutions Australia is committed to supplying the best quality turf year-round.

Over winter, warm-season turf varieties can struggle to maintain their green colouring throughout the cooler months in some areas. Our network of turf suppliers overcome these challenges in a variety of ways.

Our suppliers use a combination of frost blankets, pre-emergent herbicides, liquid nutrients and ColourGuard Plus to keep their turf both looking and performing great over the cooler months.

Frost blankets

Turf farms commonly use frost blankets to help avoid turf from becoming frost affected and damaged. When turf does become damaged by frost, it causes the leaf blade to lose colour.

Frost blankets work by reducing the amount of cold air the turf is exposed to. These blankets create a pocket of air that is heated from the soil underneath. The blankets will sit on top of the plant, protecting the grass underneath. So, when frost does come on top of the blanket, it will slowly melt on top of the blanket, protecting the turf underneath.

These blankets help reduce the impact of frost damage on the leaf of the grass. They also help speed up the recovery time of damaged turf when heading into the warmer months.

Our suppliers who are impacted by frost use frost blankets to help avoid frost damage.

Pre-emergent weed control

All of Lawn Solutions Australia’s turf suppliers are AusGAP certified growers. This helps ensure that all turf sold from our turf suppliers will be true to type and visually free from weeds, pests, and diseases.

To help ensure this, pre-emergent products like Oxa-Pro are regularly used by our suppliers to help prevent the growth of weeds.

Pre-emergent herbicides target weeds before they appear. They work by forming a barrier at the soil level to stop the germination of any new seedlings, without affecting the root growth. These herbicides are commonly used just before germination happens. Germination will occur when the average temperature of the soil reaches below 14°.

AusGAP Certified turf suppliers can promise weed free turf. Only Lawn Solutions Australia turf suppliers can only guarantee this.

Liquid Nutrients for quality turf in winter

Lawn Solutions turf suppliers use liquid nutrients. Depending on our supplier’s location and climate, the formulation that they use will change to suit their growing conditions.

ColourGuard Plus 

ColourGuard Plus is a natural grass pigment that will instantly improve the colour of grass. Lawn Solutions Australia turf suppliers apply ColourGuard Plus to turf sold during the cooler months. This helps ensure our customers receive green grass all year round.

Warm season turf varieties do lose their colour during the cooler months as they are unable to absorb enough sunlight to produce chlorophyll. Many think that this discolouration means that the lawn is dead or is in bad health. However, the turf is simply sitting dormant and will have its colour return once it can produce chlorophyll when the weather begins to warm up again.

This is the same case for our turf suppliers and the grass that customers receive in the cooler months. To ensure the grass supplied is green when it is delivered to our customers, turf that is to be sold is sprayed with ColourGuard Plus.

ColourGuard Plus is also available for the domestic market in smaller quantities. It is great to use if you are wanting to instantly improve the appearance of your lawn. ColourGuard Plus is a permanent colourant, so it will disappear as the grass leaf grows.

You can find out more information on using ColourGuard Plus here.

Lawn Solutions Australia Turf Suppliers will provide quality turf in winter

Lawn Solutions Australia turf suppliers can guarantee the turf you receive will be of the highest quality. All our turf suppliers are AusGAP certified. This guarantees your lawn will be true to type and has been monitored for quality, to be free of weeds, pests, and diseases.

Find your local Lawn Solutions Turf Supplier here.