Yet another lawn question...

The Sweeper

...but this one is a bit more specific.

Because I'm in Australia, my environmental conditions aren't as conducive to growing grass as it is in Ireland. However, I'm hoping some lawn experts might be able to pass their wisdom on to me.

I have a large yard area, over 800m2. I'm not looking to convert it into lawn perfection - it's just not appropriate to the climate I live in, because maintaining a lawn through the height of our 35-degrees-plus summer is too water intensive. However, I want to improve the health of the scrubby contents I have in my yard and I'm hoping for some answers to more specific questions.

My soil is heavy, fertile clay, that goes from bogged and swampy to rock-hard-concrete in the height of summer.

At the moment, my yard is feral - it's covered in grasses (lots of couch grass, I think), along with thistles, some gorse seedlings (there used to be gorse bushes on this paddock, but they were bulldozed when the area was divided into housing blocks). There are a lot of broad-leaf weeds including oxalis, pattersons curse, and various other kinds. I also have things like blackberry nightshade, a little capeweed, feather grasses...

Yeah, in other words, this is a paddock, and it's never been a lawn.

Our current approach has been to mow and clip everything back to ground level, which gives us a green groundcover, but of course it's still full of the weeds.

What I'd like to achieve is a hardy, green groundcover that isn't going to turn into metre-high-paddock-weeds. It doesn't have to be a perfect, weed-free lawn. I want to increase the hardy-grass vs noxious-weed ratio in favour of the grass.

We can get most products in Australia that you can get in Ireland.

Any suggestions on varieties of grass seed that are very hardy? What products are pet-friendly? I suppose what I really need is some sort of weed-feed-reseed approach, but I'm not sure what products are out there to assist me! Is there a product that I can keep in a spray bottle and use it to nobble particularly irritating weeds if I see them cropping up in my new 'lawn'?

looksee

An Australian lawn expert would be much more useful to you than an Irish one! There is not really a lot of point in people who are used to Irish conditions trying to tell you how to grow a lawn

It may well be that there is a local grass that is most suitable for lawn there. It may be that what you have been doing, getting a green area rather than a grass lawn is the way to go. Have a look round the area where you live and see how other people are getting on - possibly you need a different mindset to the 'got to have a lawn' one. I would imagine that even the part of Australia that you live in would make a difference.

Thanos

Well no matter where you are there are some things you can do to help a lawn or any plants for that matter.

You say the soil (or maybe clay) is rock hard in the dry season and holds too much water in the wet season. We it sounds to me that the first thing you would need to do is improve the condition of the soil. By that I mean add sand to help the drainage and add something like peat or compost to help retain some water for plants.

The first thing you want to do is clear the area or at least spray it to kill everything, then get a rotavator or the like and break up the soil, the sand could be laid on top before you do this so it gets mixed in as you go.
Same could be said for the peat. May be worth doing once to break it up and again to mix the sand and peat/compost in.

Once the soil is in better condition it should be easier to grow grass in it.

The Sweeper

looksee wrote: »

An Australian lawn expert would be much more useful to you than an Irish one! There is not really a lot of point in people who are used to Irish conditions trying to tell you how to grow a lawn

Actually gardening isn't that different wherever you are. I just want to grow a lawn, not terraform Mars! I know the impact my climate will have on my garden, and I've a fair idea of the breeds of grass seed that work down here - it's more HOW to go about it. What products - by brand name or proper description - do I use to kill off existing weeds? (I do all my weeding by hand and never use chemicals, hence I've no clue what kills everything and what's close to being 'environmentally friendly'.)

For instance, when planting grass seed to 'reforest' certain areas, can you just scatter it? Does it need to be covered? Do you mix it with something before scattering, e.g. sharp sand? Will the birds knock it all off before it gets a chance to germinate?

The aerating tip is a good one, I can do that - it's Autumn here now, so it's perfect time to try kicking the lawn into some shape, because we've cooler temperatures and rain on the way.