Author: Sarah

Lawn care doesn’t need to be hard and often a less is more approach will provide you with a fantastic looking lawn! In this blog, we look at a few easy steps that will give you a great lawn that won’t require your whole weekend to achieve.

What is The Best Way to Water My Lawn?

Did you know that lawns don’t need lots and lots of water thrown at them to thrive? In most conditions, natural rainfall will take care of your lawn watering requirements and additional water is only required on an as-needed basis.

Some tell-tale signs that your lawn needs water are if it looks dry and has a curled leaf. If your lawn needs water, less frequent waterings for longer are more effective than watering your lawn more often for shorter periods. When watering, we recommend using a sprinkler that covers your area evenly for around 30 minutes. It is best to stick to morning waterings before the heat of the day and avoid afternoons to help prevent the lawn from sitting damp overnight. Watering this way will help improve the drought tolerance of your lawn, as the roots will grow deeper down into the soil base for water.

How Do I Get the Most Out of My Lawn Fertiliser?

Applying fertilisers to your lawn doesn’t have to be a complex process. If you are after a low-maintenance option that you only need to apply 2-3 times a year, a slow-release granular fertiliser like the Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser is ideal. This will release nutrients to your lawn over a longer period, meaning you won’t need to apply as frequently as liquid fertilisers.

Granular fertilisers are easy to apply. They require you to spread the granules out to the lawn; using a fertiliser will help make this an even simpler task. Then water in. If your area is expecting light rainfall, you can even time your fertiliser application right before rain, so you don’t need to water the granules in.

How to Mow My Lawn Correctly for Less Maintenance

Cutting your grass too short is not a shortcut to less maintenance. In fact, it can lead to increased maintenance from increased weed growth and stress. Maintain a moderate grass height, usually around 1-5 cm long, to promote healthy growth and discourage weed development. Also, avoid cutting more than one-third of the grass height in a single mowing session to prevent stress on the lawn.

Easy Ways to Help Prevent Weeds

Preventing weeds is easier than dealing with a full-blown invasion. Regularly inspect your lawn for signs of weeds and address them promptly. If you do have weeds already in your lawn, hand removal is the quickest and easiest option for removal for most lawn weed types. But if there are too many to remove by hand, it is best to use an herbicide for removal.

One of the easiest ways to help prevent weeds is to use a pre-emergent herbicide like Oxafert. In addition, lawn care practices play a significant role in weed prevention. Healthy lawns will be more resistant to weed infestations.

Choosing The Right Turf for Me

If you have yet to choose a turf type for your area, choosing the turf type for you and your home will help ensure your lawn will thrive with minimal effort. Some key aspects to consider before you install your turf are sunlight, maintenance requirements and whether your lawn will be fit for purpose.

Sir Walter DNA Certified is a great all-rounder! It has a beautiful soft broad leaf that is great with pets and kids, is low maintenance and needs a minimum of 4 hours of direct light per day to thrive.

TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda is another great turf type for Aussie backyards! Its soft fine leaf can deal with lots of wear from pets and kids, has a fast-repairing nature, and superior drought tolerance.

For more advice on choosing the best turf type for your region, your local and knowledgeable Lawn Solutions Australia member will provide you with specialist advice for your region.

Are you looking to install a new lawn but not sure what soil preparation is required or are wanting to improve your existing soil base? In this blog, we look at all there is to know about your lawns soil and how a good soil base can improve your lawn’s performance.

How Soil Can Affect Your Turf?

A healthy soil is key to a healthy lawn! Why? Because this is where the roots of your lawn grow. Ensuring your turf can grow its roots down into the soil, hold nutrients, and hold water (without being waterlogged) will impact the performance of your lawn.

What Soil Type Is Ideal for New Turf?

When preparing your area for new turf, most turf varieties will require an underlay of 80 -100mm of a sandy loam (80% sand 20% loam) or a turf underlay mix. You should be able to source these from your local landscaping yard.

How Do I Fix a Clay Soil

If your soil has a high component of clay, it can make it difficult for water, air and nutrients go into the soil base. This can cause possible drainage issues as water may struggle to drain away, especially if the clay is compacted. If the clay is particularly compacted, it may also hinder your lawns ability to establish its roots deeply into the soil profile.

To help amend a clay soil you can look at applying a clay breaker like gypsum. When applying gypsum, it is best to give the soil a good aerate first, then apply the gypsum. This will help it get further down into the profile. For more information on how to amend a clay soil, check out our blog here.

How to Test Your Soil’s pH

Your soil’s pH is another important factor when looking at soil. The pH of your soil will affect the solubility of minerals and nutrients essential for plant growth. If your soil is outside the ideal range, it can become very difficult or almost impossible to absorb nutrients.

So, what is the ideal pH range for turf? Ideally your soil’s pH should be between 5.5 – 7. Many lawn types, buffalo lawns in particular, have been known to do quite well in more alkaline soils up to a pH of 8. However, the closer to the neutral mark will be more beneficial for your lawn in the long run.

Soil pH tests kits should be readily available at your local garden centre or hardware store, or online through our online lawn store here. When testing your soil, it is best to gather a few samples of soil from across your lawn. Then mix these together for an average reading of the whole lawn, rather than just one area. When collecting your soil samples, it is best to dig around 200 – 150mm.

If you do need to correct your soils pH, please check out our blog here for more information.

How to Help a Compacted Soil

If your soil has become hard and compacted, it can become difficult for water, air, and nutrients to penetrate into the profile. A compacted soil can also make it difficult for our lawn to grow its roots deeply into the soil profile.

To help alleviate compaction, it is best to give the area a good aerate. To aerate you can either use a garden fork, aerator sandals, or a tyne aerator. If you have a larger area to cover, it may be worth hiring out a motorised aerator machine. For more information on how to aerate your lawn, check out our blog here.

For more lawn care tips and videos, make sure you check out the Lawn Solutions Australia YouTube channel here.

A Lawn Care Workout Routine for a Healthy Lawn and a Healthy You

Now that the warmer weather is here, it is the perfect time to look at implementing a lawn care workout routine that works for both you and your lawn! In this blog, we take a look at a range of activities that will not only help you get fit but help your lawn get in its best shape for the warmer months ahead.

Getting the Right Nutrients 

In some ways, we are just like our lawns! Just as we need the right nutrients to fuel our bodies and nourish us, so do our lawns. When looking at what fertilisers to use for your lawn, look for a fertiliser that has a well-rounded base of nutrients. For fertilising your turf, we recommend using our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser. Our fertiliser has a balanced NPK ratio (Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium) aka the macronutrients your lawn needs of 16 – 0.7 – 4 and contains beneficial trace elements, including Sulphur, Calcium, and Iron.

Now that we have nutrients looked after let’s look at a few workouts that can get you and your lawn in shape.

How to Aerate Your Lawn

Aerating your lawn is a great way to help improve the performance of your lawn. It will help open the soil profile to allow for more air, water and nutrients to reach down into the soil profile. But did you know that the movement required to drive your garden fork or tyne aerator into the ground can help build muscle, including several back muscles, shoulders, arms, and legs.

To aerate your lawn with a garden fork or tyne aerator, drive the fork into the lawn and wriggle it back and forth to help fracture up the soil profile.

If you want to make aerating your area a bit easier or if your soil is particularly compacted, give your lawn a good water a day or two before aerating to help make the soil softer.

Mowing

If you want to improve your cardio skills, mowing your lawn is a great way to help you get your steps in for the day. A self-propelled mower can make mowing an easier task, but if you have the mower disengaged or are using a mower without a self-propelled function, it can increase the intensity of your lawn care workout.

When it comes to mowing and improving your health, consistency is key. The more frequently you mow your lawn, the healthier it will become.

Weed Removal

Another great way to help get your cardio in for the day is to get on top of weeds in your lawn. When it comes to most weed types, you can simply remove them by hand.

A walking lunge will allow you to both reach down to the grass to pull weeds out from your lawn but also target most major muscle groups in your lower body. Another great lawn care workout exercise that you can use is a walking sumo squat. This will target your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves.

If you want to incorporate more upper body muscles when removing weeds, you can even incorporate an army crawl, but you might want only to do this in the backyard away from your neighbours to avoid a few possible stares.

If you are after more lawn care tips and advice to get your lawn in shape for the warmer months ahead, check out our spring lawn care blog here.

Want to know some insider knowledge on how the turf professionals keep their grass in tip-top condition? In this blog, we catch up with three industry leaders within the turf world and hear some of their advice on how to take your lawn to the next level.

Joe Rogers – Lawn Solutions Business Development Manager

Lawn Tip 1. Mow Regularly

By mowing regularly, you can help promote lateral growth and encourage your lawn to form a tighter growth habit. This makes your turf more wear tolerant, more aesthetically pleasing and helps it naturally choke out weeds. The main reason why golf courses and sporting fields look fantastic is they are mown 2-3 times per week. By mowing frequently, you can drastically improve the look of any lawn quickly.

Lawn Tip 2. Be Disciplined in Your Approach to Fertility

Whether or not you are fertilising with up-front nitrogen every six to eight weeks or using a controlled-release product with more P & K & trace elements every six months, it is important to ensure you have discipline with your application. This includes ensuring timing is regular and as per the recommendations and ensuring you stick to label rates. Chemical companies put a lot of effort into ensuring label information is correct, so it is best you follow it.

Lawn Tip 3. Embrace Technology

New turf types and lawn care products are coming to the market regularly. Instead of avoiding them, use them as they will provide many benefits to your lawn. New turf types like TifTuf Hybrid Bermuda and Sir Grange Zoysia require less inputs to produce better results. New turf care products have lower active ingredients, require fewer products and are safer to apply both for you and the environment. So rather than keeping to the same products that you have used for years, keep an eye on new and emerging technology to use it for your advantage.

Simon Adermann – Lawn Solutions National Manager

Lawn Tip 1. Ensure Mower Has Sharp Blades 

When mowing with blunt blades, bruising can occur to the leaf tips and a clean cut isn’t achieved. At the start of each spring, replace or sharpen blades ready for the growing season ahead.

Lawn Tip 2. Soil Analysis 

Getting the peak performance from your turf, or if your turf isn’t performing a soil analysis, is recommended in spring. With results and recommendations, you can then find the right nutrient balance for your soil to ensure your turf is healthy and get the most out of your fertiliser applications.

Lawn Tip 3. Water Management

Water management is critical during extended periods of dry weather. Using water-efficient turfgrass is the key; however, soil can become hydrophobic and water won’t penetrate well. Wetting agents like Lawn Soaker are a key solution for water management and will allow even water movement through the soil profile. This will improve water efficiency and help with evenness of colour and growth of your lawn.

Michael Sutton – AusGAP Program Manager

Lawn Tip 1. Understanding Nutritional Value 

It is important to have a basic understanding of what you are using and what will be the nutritional value it will have to the plant and/or soil. This way, you can help ensure your lawn isn’t getting too much of one nutrient and isn’t deficient of another. By understanding what to use and when, you can help deter other issues like disease.

Lawn Tip 2. Understanding the Site You Are Going to Turf

By understanding your site, if you want to install turf, you can then make a better decision of what varieties will be suitable for the area. Some main areas to look into include how many hours of direct light the lawn will receive, the existing soil type (and if amendments need to be made prior to installing turf) and who will be using the lawn.

Lawn Tip 3. Identifying Underlying Issues In Order to Treat and Address Any Ongoing Issues

So often we see people throwing a heap of expensive products at their lawns without getting to the cause of the problem, often making the issue worse or leading to wasted product and money. So, it is best to identify the problem, identify the solution and execute a treatment plan. If in doubt, consult with an expert.

For more lawn care tips and advice on how to improve your lawn, make sure you check out our YouTube Channel here.

Zoysia turf varieties are a favourite when it comes to many Aussie homes for their fantastic colour and versatility across many areas, but what is the best variety? Zoysia Australis is the best option for families who use their area frequently. Sir Grange Zoysia is a premium low-maintenance option for a more sophisticated show garden or display area.

Best Zoysia for Families

Zoysia Australis is the best zoysia grass for families. It can stand up to the daily stresses that you and your family will throw at it, while still performing beautifully while still showcasing beautiful zoysia traits. Here are some of the main reasons why Zoysia Australis is considered the best zoysia for families:

• Has a good shade tolerance. Zoysia Australis needs a minimum of 4 hours of direct light and is well suited in full sun areas.
• Has a good wear tolerance and recovery for a zoysia. It can stand up to regular foot traffic from pets and kids and if it does become damaged, it will be able to repair itself quickly.
• Has a fast establishment. This means you can get out and use your lawn faster.
• Soft, medium leaf that feels great underfoot and great to play on.
• Has a beautiful blue/green colour.

Zoysia Australis is part of the Zoysia japonica family. It can stand up to the stresses of a family and pets and has shade tolerance to thrive where other grasses falter.

Zoysia Australis is one of the latest turfgrasses to hit the Australian market. It was bred by Dr. Brian Schwartz at the world-famous University of Georgia, Tifton campus. This grass has been undergoing trial work here in Australia since 2018 with a range of elite zoysia grasses, with Zoysia Australis coming up on top.

Zoysia Australis is exclusively available from the Lawn Solutions Australia national network of Turf Suppliers.

Best Zoysia for Show Gardens and Manicured Lawns

Sir Grange Zoysia is the best zoysia if you are after a high-end show garden! It has a stunning fine blade with a beautiful dark green colour. Sir Grange is a slow-growing grass, meaning it has lower mowing requirements compared to other faster-growing grasses. Sir Grange also can look great when mown as low as 5mm, maintained at any height and can even be left unmown for a more textured and landscaped look. This ability to be left unmown makes it ideal for areas that are difficult to mow.

Here are some of the main reasons why Sir Grange Zoysia is considered the best zoysia grass for show gardens and manicured lawns:

• Soft, fine, dark green leaf.
• Slow growing requires up to 50% less mowing than other common turf varieties.
• Can be mowed at a variety of heights – can even be left unmown for a more textured look.
• Is a low-input grass, requiring 75% less than other common turf varieties.

Sir Grange Zoysia also known as Zeon Zoysia is a fine-bladed Zoysia matrella. It was hand-selected from over 10,000 different turf cultivar varieties. Sir Grange was developed by one of the largest turf grass breeders, Blade Runner Farms in Texas, by Mr David Douget. Bladerunner Farms has the largest privately owned zoysia grass research facility in the world.

This grass has been used on many world-famous projects such as the Rio Olympics Golf Course. It can be seen on several courses designed by Greg Norman and Tiger Woods. This turf type was originally developed for the golf industry, but it was soon discovered that due to its characteristics, it would make a fantastic home lawn!

Sir Grange Zoysia is exclusively available in Australia by Lawn Solutions Australia’s national network of turf suppliers.

I started in the horticulture industry when I was 18 years old, 24 years later I’ve picked up a few tricks of the trade. Things have gone right, things have gone wrong, I’ve killed plenty of plants, but I have always tried to learn along the way and luckily for me, dead plants make the best compost! Here are my top ten tips for creating and maintaining your dream garden.

1. Be in the space before designing it

One of the hardest things to do as a landscape designer is to spend time in somebody else’s space before you start designing it. This time will really allow you to get to know the ins and outs of the garden, the light, the soil, and the environmental factors that influence it. Of course, you can spend some time there during consultations and site meetings but the owners are normally present too, so your focus is on them, not the actual space. Being able to sit and relax and really take in all the pros and cons of a site is vital for a successful garden design. Luckily, as a designer you become attuned to what will and won’t work in a space quickly. But as a homeowner, it’s important to invest time in doing nothing and taking in the space before rushing into a new project or addition.

2. Listen to your client

When I designed my first garden at The Royal Horticulture’s Chelsea Flower Show I was marked down from a gold medal to a silver gilt as my design brief stated the garden will be enclosed with a hedge. My hedge didn’t have enough leaves to enclose the space. I was fuming at the time thinking ‘how petty” however if a client had requested a private enclosed garden and I gave them a deciduous hedge for the boundary, they wouldn’t be happy. As such its vital to understand exactly what you want to get out of a space before embarking on any installation and really focus on what you are trying to achieve throughout the whole process.

3. Less is often more

Getting the scale and proportion of your garden elements right is key to a successful design. It’s much better to have a few elements at the right scale than too much. Too small as it will come across as tokenistic and cluttered. Having space to move around a garden comfortably between elements such as entertaining spaces, lawns, and swimming pools is as much joy as the spaces themselves.

4. Don’t forget practicality

Gardens are a visual feast, and the joy of looking at something beautiful is wonderful, but remember to allocate space for all the items that go along with supporting that beauty – things like lawnmowers, washing lines and kids’ play equipment all need to be thought of where they can go, where they can be accessed with ease and how can they be made to look nice too.

5. Right plant for the right spot

When it comes to planting a new garden or even adding a few plants to an existing bed, do some research on what you are planting. Our lovely green friends have evolved to like a certain set of environmental circumstances. If you can give them what they want, they will thrive. The key elements to look for are aspect – sun or shade, tolerance to wind, type of soil they like, the drainage they require, the amount of water they require and the level of fertilisation they need. This counts for your lawns as well as other plants. If you start to see problems with a plant use this as an opportunity to learn about what is going wrong, I’ve learnt more from diseased plants than I have from the easy-care ones.

6. Soil prep is king

Soil is everything when it comes to successfully growing lawns and ornamental plants. If you get the soil right for the plants you want to grow then you have won the battle to a healthy garden. Compost is king when it comes to improving your soil, and no matter what you have, compost will help it. It helps to bind sandy soils to hold onto nutrients and water but also breaks up clay-based soils by bringing in wildlife like worms and other soil insects. For unstable clays, the addition of gypsum will be paramount to the success of the soil before the introduction of compost. Whenever you get the chance to improve your soil, it’s a well worthy task to complete.

7. Water

Plants love water, even the drought-tolerant ones, The more you water your plants, the better they will grow and the healthier they will be…… as long as they have the right drainage for the plant you are growing. It’s a simple one but one that makes the world of difference to your garden.

8. Mulch

Mulch is a wonderful thing for your garden as it breaks down to improve your soil, slows water into the soil making watering more effective and slows water runoff too which prevents excess erosion. It will suppress weeds and help to lock moisture into the soil not to mention it makes the garden look finished and well cared for. It may seem crazy but try to get a mulch that fits with the style of your garden, a native garden suits leaf litter whilst a rustic garden will sing with a straw style mulch, contemporary spaces can be elevated with a pebble mulch. Remember it’s the small details that make a big difference in a gardens overall visual impact.

9. Less work more often

When it comes to maintaining anything in the garden be it a garden bed, a veggie patch or a lawn doing less more often is better than saving all that time up and trying to get it all done at once. Your plants will be healthier as you will get to know them better and be able to get on top of any issues quicker and your body will enjoy it too which will keep you doing it for longer. I also always like to remember the weeding is never done, no matter how much you do there will always be more and as soon as you come to terms with that the easier it is to do a little bit here and there and not get disheartened if you don’t get it all done.

10. Take time to enjoy the garden

We all enjoy our gardens for different reasons, for some it is watching the kids play on the lawn, for others its harvesting from the vegetable patch or deadheading your annuals. For me there is nothing better than taking a moment to sit and relax out on the lawn being surrounded by my favourite plants and soaking it all in. I truly cherish these brief moments.

For more lawn care tips and advice, make sure you check out our other lawn care blogs here.

Spring is now here, and it is a great time to look at installing your new lawn! Temperatures are starting to warm back up but without the hot temperatures from summer. In this blog, we are going to look at our top tips for installing your new lawn to help make the process as seamless as possible.

How Do I Prepare the Ground For My New Lawn?

When installing new turf, it is important to ensure you have removed all the current lawn and weeds. If this is done correctly, it will help prevent them from growing back through your new lawn. After your old turf has been treated and removed, bringing in a quality soil base will help ensure your lawn will be able to grow and establish its roots down into the profile well.

Our top tips for ground preparation:

• Remove all existing grass and weeds with a non-selective herbicide like RoundUp or Zero. You may need 2-3 applications around 7-10 days apart to ensure all plant material is removed. More invasive varieties like Kikuyu or Couch may require more repeated applications for removal.
• Use a good quality soil base (an 80% and 20% loam or a turf underlay mixture is preferred) of at least 80-100mm.

How Do I Install My New Lawn?

When installing your new lawn, it is best to ensure you don’t leave the turf sitting on the pallet for too long, especially if it is a hot day. When laying out your turf, work from the furthest part of your yard and work your way back, laying in a brickwork pattern. Once installed, ensure you give your lawn a good water to stop the roots from drying out.

Our top tips for installing your new lawn:

• Install your lawn the same day you receive it.
• Do not water your lawn when it is on the pallet, as it can cause it to burn.
• Start laying your turf in the furthest away point from your exit and work your way back.
• Lay your new lawn in a brickwork pattern and butt up the edges together.
• Install your new lawn across slopes rather than down.
• If you need to cut the turf to fit around any trees or corners, use either a sharp knife, spade, or garden shears.
• It is best to use large pieces of turf to fill in gaps rather than several smaller pieces where possible. Smaller pieces will be more susceptible to drying out.
• After your lawn is installed, give it a good water. If installing your lawn over a large area, water the finished sections while you work to prevent turf from drying out.
• You can give your new lawn a light roll once installed; however this is not necessary.

How Do I Care For My New Lawn?

Now that the hard work is done, there are a few extra steps you can do to ensure your lawn has the best chance to thrive well into the future. Keep foot traffic off the area and ensure you keep up with regular watering. This will help ensure your lawns roots are able to grow deeply into the profile.

Our top tips for caring for your new lawn:

• Irrigate your lawn regularly enough so that your lawn does not dry out. New lawns must not be allowed to dry out in the first six weeks post-installation. If you are away from home, sprinklers and tap times should be used. Your local turf suppliers should be able to provide you with a guide on how regularly you should be watering. The amount you need to water will also be dependent on the time of year. Please have a look at the below table as a guide on when to water.
• When watering your lawn, apply a minimum of 3mm. Use a rain gauge or catch cups to check how long this will be with your irrigation method.
• Foot traffic (including your pets) should be kept to a minimum until the lawn has fully established and has been mown 3-4 times.
• Depending on the time of year and variety, your lawn will vary in the time it takes to establish. It is best to walk out every 3-4 days post-installation and pull up the corners of the roll/slab gently. If they have established into the soil, it is time to mow. For a fast-growing grass like TifTuf this may occur after 5-6 days.
• When giving you lawn its first mow, mow on a high setting to be sure not to scalp the lawn.
• Fertilise your lawn once it has been down for 5-6 weeks. For fertilising, we recommend using our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser and water it in well after application.

Please note: it is normal for the corners of the turf rolls/slabs to dry out in the first few weeks after installation.

Turf Installation & Initial Care – Best Practice Guidelines