Hi folks,
I'm located in Melbourne and looking to start a lawn with seed.
Here's a photo of the backyard currently. I've gotten rid of most of the existing weeds and stones. Basically bare dirt now and some dead roots.
The plan is to:
– Add topsoil (thinking Scott's Osmocote 25L Garden Soil Premium Planting Mix from Bunnings)
– Level the whole area
– Throw down some seed (Kikuyu)
– Water 3-4x day
– Pray
Any experts on here have advice as to whether this will work? Can I skip aeration and fertiliser or are they a must? Also any concerns about Kikuyu (I know they're invasive but I'm after something with relatively low maintenance)..
Appreciate any advice
by Romordi
2 Comments
What grass was there before?
This might sound odd, but it might be a good idea to water it for a couple of weeks and see what pops up, glyphosate all that and then add your seed, this will get rid of a lot of your weeds or other grass seeds and help in the long run.
If your soil is in decent shape you could probably get away without adding bagged top soil or aerating, that will get expensive, but you should use a starter specific fertiliser with higher phosphorus content compared to regular lawn fertiliser for root development.
If you can push a screw driver in without much problem you don’t need to aerate, save that for when you need it.
Also get a quality 100% kikuyu seed online, and once it goes down be diligent with your watering until it’s greened up.
You ultimately want organic material and soil structure. You’d probably get further with bulk compost and mix in heaps of chicken poo (e.g. dynamic lifter or rooster booster) and mix that into the top 5cm of soul with rake.
Kikuyu is a good choice. Just no going back unless you nuke it.
Once it’s all seeded and growing I guess that’s when it’s a matter of how crazy you get with your involvement. A chicken poo based fertiliser every 6 months will be fine (again dynamic lifter or rooster booster). But there is endless more you can do if you are keen.
Also if you have dogs they might eat all the chicken poo fertiliser (mine does) so might need other options but chicken poo has all thats needed