Category: Soil Preparation Videos

Laying new turf / Lawn Installation (video)

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Laying new turf / Lawn Installation

Installing your turf is pretty straight forward.  Once you have got your preparation done you are ready to go. Turf is cut fresh at the Turf farm and delivered within 24 hours so lay it as soon as possible to avoid the roots drying out.

If the turf is left stacked for any period of time it will result in heat damage. Now the turf is best laid across any slope, this is particularly important on steep sites.

Start from a straight edge such as a driveway or pavement and lay the turf in a brick work pattern ensuring that the edges fit snugly together. Use a sharp spade, a strong knife or garden sheers to cut the turf and to fit it around irregular shapes in your garden such as trees, garden beds and garden edges.

Once you have got your lawn down it is really important to use a water filled roller, you can hire these on a daily basis.  What these do is ensure the roots are in good contact with the soil below.  Without this important step the roots can dry out, your turf can dry out and you will end up using a lot more water in the first 24-48 hours.

So whatever you do make sure you roll the turf.

Lime & Gypsum (video)

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Lime and Gypsum

Gypsum, also known as calcium sulphate helps to break down and open up a clay soil allowing water, nutrients, air and lawn roots to penetrate into the soil more easily which is exactly what you want.

Now if you’ve got a clay soil it’s best to incorporate the gypsum into the soil before you spread your turf underlay mix. You can do this with a rotary hoe or you could just use a mattock for small areas.

For an existing lawn use a garden fork, push it in while moving it back and forth. Broadcast the required amount of lime over the area and water it into the soil. Now sometimes you lawn will get damaged from general wear and tear from pets or high traffic and even cold weather. Gypsum will help repair these areas.

Now always read the instructions on the bag buy as a general rule for light clay soils you need to apply 1 kg per square metre and for heavy clay soils you double it to 2 kg  per square metre.  And remember this too, gypsum is pH neutral, if you want to raise your soils pH you need to apply lime or dolomite.

Loving Your Lawn – Your Guide to the Perfect Aussie Lawn (video)

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G’day Nigel Ruck Here

I’d like to introduce my new book, Loving your Lawn, your guide to the perfect aussie lawn.

Created with the collective knowledge of 66 of the leading Australian Turf Growers, this book enables people throughout Australia to select, lay and maintain a lawn to suit their unique situation.

Published by Green Propeller and written by myself, this comprehensive lawn guide is a collaborative work. It’s the first book of its kind – aimed directly at all Australian lawn lovers and their lawns. Loving your Lawn combines the practical and localised knowledge of turf farmers across Australia with my hands-on knowledge and practical skills in both lawn and landscaping in general. Green Propeller’s creative, editorial and marketing team have crafted this knowledge into a unique fusion of how-to guides, practical information and outstanding photography — a book worthy of any coffee table, or lawn enthusiasts book shelf.

I hope you enjoy Loving your Lawn…

The Importance of Soil pH for Your Lawn (video)

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 The Importance of Soil pH for Your Lawn

Sometimes you may find your lawn is not performing very well or not responding to fertiliser and this could be to do with the soils pH.

Now pH is a measure of acidity and alkalinity and Sir Walter lawns like to be in the 6 to 7.5 range for optimum performance. A pH in the right range of 6 to 7.5 is a bit like a plant with its mouth wide open, no food will go to waste here and it will all be eaten by the plant.

Adjusting the pH is easier on loamy and sandy soils than on heavy clays.  If your soil is a sandy loam and you need to raise the soil pH by one unit add the equivalent of 150g of liming material per square metre.  An adult handful is about 100g.

Heavy clay soils will require at least 250g to raise the pH by one unit.  A super fine grade of lime works quickest and generally costs around $8 a bag.

For an established lawn, which may be lacking magnesium, mix 50/50 lime and dolomite as the liming material to get the right balance of calcium and magnesium. Dolomite is only available in one grade and costs around $8 a bag.

After applying lime or dolomite make sure you water them well so that it moves into the soil. Testing the soil’s pH may seem like some mad scientific operation but it couldn’t be simpler with one of the soil pH test kits.  All you have to do is follow the instructions and it even tells you how to make the changes.

You can get all the lawn care products you will need here at our online Lawnstore.