All about lawns in Melbourne’s sand belt.
The grass base of most sand belt lawns are Couch, Kikuyu and more recently Buffalo, otherwise known as WARM SEASON turfgrass. These grass types have excellent heat and drought tolerance and reproduce from runners, rather than seed. In full sun, they grow actively in the sand belt from early summer to mid autumn, before heading into dormancy for the cold months. In shade regions, these grasses struggle to grow or may die back. During winter dormancy, they stop growing altogether, suffer severe wear damage and lose color; and inevitably annual winter broadleaf and grass weeds take hold.
Turfgrass growth curves
Unfortunately, many sand belt lawns have little warm season grass base and are dominant with undesirable grassy and broadleaf weeds, particularly through the cooler months (late March to late Nov).
The ideal 4-season lawn
The strategy for the ideal, 4-season lawn in Melbourne’s Bayside’s sand belt is to:
a. Summer: Promote the spreading growth of the warm season grass base, if present and coverage is suffucient.
b. from early Autumn onwards: Turf reseed™ with cool season turfgrasses with the option of keeping the new grass long term.
new lawn renovation
Turf reseeding™
Turf reseeding™ is the process of drilling seed into and under dormant couch or kikuyu, or sprayed out or existing old lawn.
The main COOL SEASON turfgrass varieties are turf-type perennial ryegrass, tall fescue and fine fescues. These grasses make a beautifully rich, vibrant colored, fine-leaf lawn with excellent cool season growth, wear and shade tolerance. Without soil moisture, their Achilles heel is tolerance to prolonged drought and extreme heat.
These perennial turfgrasses will persist 4-seasons with easy common sense care and are established from seed from late summer to late spring. The best turf perennial ryegrass examples are the MCG, Visy park, Eithad, Aurora and Skilled stadiums, Adelaide Oval, Moonee Valley racecourse, Lord’s cricket ground and Wimbelton.
how it works
Renew your lawn
Renew your lawn NOW In just 7 to 12 days from Turf reseeding™, your tired old lawn will be renewed with dense vibrant coloured fine leaf perennial turf grass. You can retain stunning lawn cover for at least 10 months, and over summer into the following year with strategic watering and a little care. Our Turf reseeder™ accurately drills seed into and under existing lawn and bare ground for ideal seed-soil contact and seed wet-up, resulting in dense and uniform establishment. Vertical blades slice into existing lawn, creating a slice opening; depositing and securing seed at correct depth and rate, with minimal lawn disruption or soil tillage. Minimal soil disturbance ensures resident weed seeds remain dormant and weed germination is minimal. Turf seed is well covered, protected from birds and flotation; and is mostly free from weed seed competition.
