Help save my new lawn- water restrictions going up

[Doughboy]

No water restrictions because there is no water to restrict!!!

I am a native of Pambula and the valley is looking very dry.

Pete

[ozwinner]

Hey all,

I have recently (a few months ago) as part of my landscaping efforts put in two reasonably small area's of new turf with full automatic irrigation system,

What the hell were you thinking?
Farmers would kill to get any sort of growth in the paddock, and you dont want your lovely green grass to die? :confused:

Al :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

[JDub]

What the hell were you thinking?
Farmers would kill to get any sort of growth in the paddock, and you dont want your lovely green grass to die? :confused:

Al :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

Yer I know SWMBO desperately wanted lawn, I convinced her to have areas half the size she wanted....

I am now seriously considering paving the front area and focus on saving the back lawn for the kids to play on etc...... not much cash lying around ATM to pay for 50m2 of good pavers though

Just seems such a waste of time and effort (and $) after I rotary hoed, dug in gypsum etc, installed top notch irrigation ( and dug trenches!), used good top soil, and laid great turf... and only 6 months ago (when there was no restrictions mind you) :mad:

[Bleedin Thumb]

Maybe you could offer your lawn out for agistment, that should keep Al happy.
The lawn looks lush enough for a dairy cow or two, I can see some permiculture thing happening here.
The upside is that once you get the cows you can apply for drought relief.

[pharmaboy2]

OK - stating the obvious, but to my understanding, new lawns can be watered in their first year (forobvious reasons). Secondly, you should only water a max of once a week anyway to encourage root growth. If watering to keep it green, then the roots will stay shallow and it'll die in the first week of hot weather. When watering (after its gone some brown in it) water once but very deeply - an all nighter water - this will encourage deeper root growth again.

Any lawn once a year old should easily cope with a drought - it wont look good, but it wont die. As for water, the first thing to do would be to make those downpipes go out onto the lawn - the catchment area of half a roof will turn a 10 minute storm into am equivalent hour of rain for the lawn.

[Studley 2436]

something I did last year was to mulch the lawn from my DC unit. Stuck on heaps of sawdust and woodchip from the jointer. Waw a help as it kept the water in and broke down to help the water get into the lawn.

The other good tip is not to mow it short, let it grow longer to reduce evaporation

Studley

[Sturdee]

new lawns can be watered in their first year (forobvious reasons).

Not here. If you buy the lawn from an instant turf place you can apply for a permit which allows you to water in the new lawn for a couple of month only. If you sow the lawn from seed it doesn't apply.

This is not for your benefit but to stop them having to pay compensation to the turf growers.


Peter.

[JDub]

OK - stating the obvious, but to my understanding, new lawns can be watered in their first year (forobvious reasons). Secondly, you should only water a max of once a week anyway to encourage root growth. If watering to keep it green, then the roots will stay shallow and it'll die in the first week of hot weather. When watering (after its gone some brown in it) water once but very deeply - an all nighter water - this will encourage deeper root growth again.

As Sturdee says, Unfort the permits only apply for the first month or two after laying the turf, I understand re: deep watering once a week, not cutting short etc etc all of which I am doing , and it is obviously working because my lawn is very healthy months after laying it in very hot weather......
still if it doesnt rain once a week to give it that once a week 'deep water', it doesnt help much if I cant water it myself

I am going to try and rig up a cheap grey water system for the short term, It may work, it may not, its worth a shot though right?

when I can afford it I may look at larger rain water tanks for my garden irrigation system.

BTW the lawn is tall fescue and kentucky bluegrass (canberra blend) from canturf for those that were asking.
Gotta feel sorry for the turf mobs, they must be hurting.

[Clinton1]

tall fescue and kentucky bluegrass

There's your problem... when it is hot it will need a lot of watering, although the Kentucky bluegrass bounces back pretty well.

Seriously, when it is cooler - scatter some couch or buffalo around the front, it will spread and save the water for the back lawn.

[Christopha]

Another thing which may help is to use a good soil wetting agent, this will make sure that the water you do use doesn't just sit near the surface but penetrates deeper thus making sure your lawns roots head downwards as well. Deep rooted plants are more likely to survive the big dry. As for Pharmaboys' "All nighter", I fear that this is a real water waster and by the SA rules, illegal.... I don't know about yours over there.

[Bleedin Thumb]

JDub your trying to save your turf - I'm trying to eliminate mine.

Not because of the drought, I'm as water conscious as anyone - hey I even have my pet aquarium fish on half rations, no I am just really lazy and hate mowing.

Infact I hire a mowing guy to come and do ours..he's the most unreliable bloke I've ever met ....been once since last year ....lost one of the kids last week..:eek:

Anyway I recon that lawn is way overrated, gardens are supossed to be for relaxing in, not working in.

So sit back, chill out and watch the grass die.

[masoth]

.... and be sure to lift the mowing height. Tall grass = deep roots = less watering. You can mow more often to keep the lawn looking OK.

[ozwinner]

Anyway I recon that lawn is way overrated, gardens are supossed to be for relaxing in, not working in.

So sit back, chill out and watch the grass die.

Same here, we have about 6sqM of grass that is ours, and is going as soon as we get around to putting gravel down.

Al

[dazzler]

Hi JDUB

This is my experience of 4 lawns in canberra. One of the problems I found was the clay and limestone rock that serves as soil in canberra.

The best lawn I ever had in jerrabomberra was done like this;

1. Rotary hoe to at least 4inches. This may include using a kanga jackhammer or similar to break it up first. Rake smooth, dont roll.

2. Go to corkhills and get some of thier vegie mix soil. Lay this to at least the thickness of a brick laid on its side. (4"?)Rake smooth, dont roll.

3. Lay your turf lightly on top, sprinkle more vegie mix to fill the little gaps.

4. Dont walk or let anyone on it for a month.

This is how I did my most successful lawn and once established it looked after itself with only a light watering. The roots were amazing and the soil acts as a sponge.

Normally in canberra most companies that lay turf will at best rotory hoe and normally just spread the thinest layer of crap soil and level it then lay the turf. What happens is the when you water or it rains the water goes straight to the roots and effectively hits concrete soil and runs away.

If you have only just had it laid it may still come back up otherwise you will need to hire a turf cutter and lift it again.

A lot of work but it is the best method for canberra. Sadly, if it has been laid on a little soil then nothing you do will save it.

cheers

dazzler

good luck

[pharmaboy2]

Another thing which may help is to use a good soil wetting agent, this will make sure that the water you do use doesn't just sit near the surface but penetrates deeper thus making sure your lawns roots head downwards as well. Deep rooted plants are more likely to survive the big dry. As for Pharmaboys' "All nighter", I fear that this is a real water waster and by the SA rules, illegal.... I don't know about yours over there.

Unfortunately Christopha, i have no doubt you are correct - The classic example of this is the restriction where you can water by hand held hose, but not use a sprinkler - pretty obviously, using say a sprinkler at night is going to deliver more water to where its needed than a hand held hose, and secondly the hose method will be short in duration and so require more water over the long term. Another example of why better information and teaching people "how" to be waterwise is a better outcome than the beaurocratic solution of rules and laws that are first and foremost easiest to enforce.

fortunately, I happen to live in one of those places that hasnt had water restrictions for a couple fo decades, and probably not coincidently, is also the most recnt catchment area to approve a new dam some weeks ago (Hunter Valley) - maybe thats the reason we dont have a shortage (forward planning?)