Lawn.

[Phteven]

So as not to derail the fake lawn thread....
I've been meaning to talk about lawn for ages now but I never seem to get around to it.
I bought At Home recently and it turns out that Bill Bryson can express most of the issues with lawn far better than I can so I'm just going to quote him...

By the last quarter of the 19th century, the lawnmower was comfortably established as a part of gardening life. On even the most modest properties, a good, well-cut lawn became the ideal. For one thing, it was a way of announcing to the world that the householder was prosperous enough that he didn't need to use the space to grow vegetables for his dinner table.
Today for many people gardening is about lawns and almost nothing else. Grass on domestic lawns wants to do what wild grasses do in nature – namely, grow to a height of about two feet, flower, turn brown and die. To keep it short and green and continuously growing means manipulating it fairly brutally and pouring a lot of stuff on to it. In the western US about 60% of all the water that comes out of taps is sprinkled on lawns. Worse still are the amounts of herbicides and pesticides – 32m kg of it a year – that are soaked into lawns. It is a deeply ironic fact that for most of us keeping a handsome lawn is about the least green thing we do.

I think that even more than the water and chemicals what bugs me is that lawn comes at the expense of produce. If only half our lawns were given over to vege patches the amount of food miles that we all consume would be dramatically reduced.

I do love walking barefoot on a soft, fluffy lawn but I wish it didn't come at such a cost.

[Nettie]

Not to mention that the time spent on maintaining a lawn is by far more than maintaining a veggie patch - which you can eat and gives such joy!

[~Lashes~]

i know its probably not the intention of your thread, but thank you! next time my dad (or realestate) complains about my lawn, i am going to tell them that

Grass on domestic lawns wants to do what wild grasses do in nature – namely, grow to a height of about two feet, flower, turn brown and die.

might keep them quiet for a while while they think what to reply with!

[HotI]

I have a beautiful patch of lawn that is watered by our grey water. Many people are envious, it looks that good. It is so nice to see kids running over it and doing somersaults etc.

We are fortunate to be on 1/2 acre so still have room for vegie patch around the back and herbs and stuff on the side.

NOt really a point to this post, maybe just bragging.

[~MummaBear~]

I have a beautiful patch of lawn that is watered by our grey water. Many people are envious, it looks that good. It is so nice to see kids running over it and doing somersaults etc.

We are fortunate to be on 1/2 acre so still have room for vegie patch around the back and herbs and stuff on the side.

NOt really a point to this post, maybe just bragging.

well.. you're not my friend anymore lol
nah i am soo jealous between feral kids and a ever so cahrming dog our lawn never had a chance.. i am so over the ikky dirt

[RhiChiChi]

Interesting, my Dh works for an instant lawn company and of course our lawn looks awesome! We don't water it but it does get fertilised.
We have a vegie patch too, albeit a small one atm since we are novices and some of our crops have failed. I would say the lawn takes LESS time to look after - we are always doing something in the vegie patch - either pulling out plants that didn't grow or watering, fertilising, haversting, replanting. My DH mows our lawn once a fortnight and on average it takes maybe half an hour to mow.

[~Stoked~]

I have a beautiful patch of lawn that is watered by our grey water. Many people are envious, it looks that good. It is so nice to see kids running over it and doing somersaults etc.

We are fortunate to be on 1/2 acre so still have room for vegie patch around the back and herbs and stuff on the side.

NOt really a point to this post, maybe just bragging.

Well you made me jealous! I've got 'grasses' and weeds massed together with a random clump of gravel here and there for extra texture!
We are going to be retaining alot of our six acres and will have a combo of bush, pasture, fruit trees, vegies and a nice patch of lawn for the kiddies. Until then.. Beware of the boondies!

[Pandora]

I wish there was lawn that grew well under shade, specially from gum trees - we have tall trees around our house / land and what little sun we do get, I have my veggie patch.

Buffalo does, apparently.
We are looking at Matilda or palmetto buffalo out the back, between the veggies and the trampoline

[melbel]

Palmetto is the bomb!! We have it in our backyard and apart from the settling in period it has never been watered, is weed proof because it knits together so tightly, grows in the shade an the full sun and it is soft underfoot unlike most buffalo grasses. the only downside is that is the most expensive turf to buy as you can't grow it from seed you have to buy the instant turf or runners....Love our palmetto!!!

[Pandora]

Mel, did you lay yours yourself/DH?

[melbel]

yeah...we prepared with turf underlay soil and leveled the area ( do yourself a favour and hire a levelling tool, made it sooooo much quicker and easier) and then got the turf delivered....has to be laid the same day so keep that in mind....the turf laying part is the easy bit, it's the preparation that takes time. Oh after we leveled we left it for a couple of weeks to settle in case we had to fill in holes or sinkages type thing. The day you lay the turf you apply for a 28 day watering in exemption online that allows you to water the lawn in to establish it.....after that it should maintain itself......

[Pandora]

Thanks! Better start on the weekend then. I'm undecided on whether we need to actually dig out and remove soil before rotary how and levellinh the ground.
It's covered in weeds, pattersons curse. I've been told not to bother ad just poison and rotary how it because the weeds won't be able to grow thru the buffalo but I'm not sure.

[melbel]

I would poison and leave it for a few weeks to die off then dig it all in then a layer of turf underlay then level but that's just me...

[~Kaz~]

We tried to totally get rid of all lawn on our block after we moved in. We ripped it all up front and back and planted gardens with stone or woodchip pathways. We left a small patch (say 3m by 2m) clear out the back and tried to grow a native ground cover that would compress when walked on a lot but it kept dying in winter (heavy frosts) and then would be out of control with heaps of flowers etc in summer. We ended up ripping that up and put down turf which we don't need to water or fertilise (after the initial three weeks). Our herbs, veggies and pot plants take more water and time. I think there are some types of grass that you can 'train' to need very little water.

I do agree with the point/essence of Bill's quote. We need to be much more conscious of things like grass growing.

[Mum2SweetCs]

we are preparing our back yard as well. We gotta get rid of all the Pebbles first. Its like its never ending!!!

Hey Pandora, instead of poison, can you use weedmat from bunnings instead and then put top soil on top? im not sure if it will work but maybe ask the bunnings experts?

[MummyNaomi]

We have "Windsor Green couch" which is very drought tolerant in our dry SA conditions

But I must also comment on the grey water - we run a hose from the washing machine to water the lawn with the they gray water and I swear it does the lawn better and keeps it greener than watering from the tap. Anytime I have any patches that are a bit dry or damaged, I set the grey water hose on it for a few days and it turns green again almost instantly!!

We mow one a week, takes 10 minutes up and back, and we whipper snipper the edges fortnightly - takes an extra 10 mins so we dont spend much time on it at all

I'm a lawn wh0re - I love a nice lush lawn hehehehehe

[Trillian]

I'm a lawn wh0re - I love a nice lush lawn hehehehehe

Me too. Ours is gorgeous atm - with all the rain we've had we have hardly had to water it this summer which is fantastic because every other summer we have the sprinklers on every second night.

[Pandora]

Thanks