Lawn Renovations

Update:

The holiday home has a mix of what looks like LM Berea and some Kikuyu. Did not bring the scarrifier with as the berea apparantly does not like it so much as the kikuyu does. So, cut the grass short and wet the ground the day before to help with spike roller penetration.

I bought a topsoil mix: 5 tons of topsoil mixed with 1 ton of Nutricast. Apparently very good. We will see.
So I showed my guy how to go about using the lawn leveler, etc. And he went to work. By 8:30, he was soaking wet already. Lmfao.

I bought a refurbed 20" Professional reel mower for this property, as this lawn has big potential. Just needs some levelling out. But we'll get there. I think the wheelbarrow also needs a service after the day's work. :ROFL:

Some before pics.

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My Proteas, 6 different variaties. My plan is to always have at least one kind in bloom at any given time. They all have different tims of the eyar when they bloom.

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W@P said:
Thought I would start a thread where we can showcase our lawn renovations.

I am a bit of a lawn freak. And every year come end of August, it is time to do some renovations of my lawn. Living in the MP Highveld, winters are not kind to our lawns.

I will post updates as I go along. Anyone is welcome to join and show their progress.
My lawn area is about 100sqm

My general tools of the trade are as follows:
  • Scarifier/dethatcher. I have a little Black & Decker that has been going strong for 4 renovations thus far. Still on the original tines. I have bought spare tines from the UK for when it is time to replace them. This thing rips out all the dead grass/moss/thatc and spits it out. Kikuyu likes to be roughed up like motherfscker and then it bounces back with a bang. If you do not have one of these, using your normal mower on its lowest setting works fine.
  • Spike roller for aeration and flat roller for levelling /compacting topsoil/lawndressing.

  • Lawn leveler for leveling out your bumps and dips with topsoil/lawndressing. I use a professional reel mower, and they like a lawn to be as level as possible for best results.

  • Then comes my baby. The Professional Reel Mower for those chasing the perfect lawn stripes. I have a 17" model with a bulletproof Honda motor. No idea how old she is. Got her second hand. But these things last a lifetime if cared for. I mow my lawn myself, the garden engineer does not touch this one. If it happens that he needs to mow the lawn I have a Professional Hi-Vac petrol mower for him.


This is mainly it. Also have an Ingco battery operated knapsack sprayer(best thing ever) for the treatment of weeds if they pop up.


My process starts as follows:
  1. Mow the lawn short if not short already.
  2. Run the scarifier/dethatcher one or 2 rounds over the entire lawn.
  3. Push/pull the heavy ass spike roller over the entire lawn. Make sure to water the lawn a day or so beforehand so that the spike can penetrate nice and deep.
  4. Overseed some areas that might need help with Kikuyu seeds or any other seeds if you want to create a type of hybrid lawn. I get my seeds from Grasses and Greens Supplies in Edenvale. They are the best. Do not buy the shiit on the shelves.
  5. Put down topsoil/lawndressing and spread it out using the lawn leveler, or you could use a heavy-duty outdoor broom or a rake.
  6. Do a couple of passes with the smooth lawn roller to compact and set the seeds nice and tight with the soil, and it also helps with the levelling.
  7. Water !!!
I give it a week or 2 to pop up and the soil to settle before my first mow. At this time, you can also add some fertilizer. I generally use Omnia's Greensulf 35, 2:3:2, or a nice all-arounder that I am going to try for the first time now is 5:1:5

Here is a nice reference card from Grasses and Greens
View attachment 1842915


Important to give plenty of water if you put down fertilizer to prevent the lawn from burning.



Second post to follow...
Click to expand...
The B&D dethatcher was the only one I could find, it was on Takealot, I hesitated to buy, now I regret not buying it, as it is no longer available.
 
Upon further inspection, I see I have quite a bit of Kikuyu at the holiday home. Should have brought the scarifier. Too late now, already put down the topsoil. And I think my guy is finished with as much leveling as we can do at this stage. So flat roller time and then water.

I have quite a bit of broadleaf weeds at this place. I bought a mix from Grasses and Greens Supplies to use on broadleaf weeds.
It is a 3 part mix. 1 part Orosorb, 1 part Superlawnweeder and 1 part Peek granules. Applied over 3 months. Once a month. The stuff works. Without fscking up your lawn. Will see how everything progresses and what pops up. Applied the 1st dose earlier in the week.
 
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W@P said:
Update:

The holiday home has a mix of what looks like LM Berea and some Kikuyu. Did not bring the scarrifier with as the berea apparantly does not like it so much as the kikuyu does. So, cut the grass short and wet the ground the day before to help with spike roller penetration.

I bought a topsoil mix: 5 tons of topsoil mixed with 1 ton of Nutricast. Apparently very good. We will see.
So I showed my guy how to go about using the lawn leveler, etc. And he went to work. By 8:30, he was soaking wet already. Lmfao.

I bought a refurbed 20" Professional reel mower for this property, as this lawn has big potential. Just needs some levelling out. But we'll get there. I think the wheelbarrow also needs a service after the day's work. :ROFL:

Some before pics.

View attachment 1844055

View attachment 1844056

View attachment 1844057

My Proteas, 6 different variaties. My plan is to always have at least one kind in bloom at any given time. They all have different tims of the eyar when they bloom.

View attachment 1844058
Click to expand...
How much for the truck, I want it...
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
How much for the truck, I want it...
Click to expand...
Bru, you're gonna have to stand in line. I can sell that thing in an instant. Everyone in the area who knows about it wants to buy it.
But I will never sell it, it was my mother's special project.
The thing even holds air in the wheels still. I recently put down some conveyor belts on the truck bed underneath all the plants, as the old wooden bed had rotted away.

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Believe it or not this is an old cast iron bath tub. I remember I bought the fscking thing for R200 o something off FB marketplace. Empty off course. And when I went to collect it, there was only myself and the old tannie I bought it from. No other hands o help loading. Jusss I had a good afkak session to get that thing on the back of my bakkie.

1756519406509.png
 
Update:

Remember the heap of topsoil; this is what's left after doing the back lawn. And if you look at the grass, you can barely see anything.

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So spike rolled, seeded some spots, leveled (some spots more than others), smooth roller, water.

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Now to give it some time and water. The rain must come.
I can't wait to cut some stripes on this lawn with the rebuilt 20" Professional reel mower I bought.
Still a bit bumpy and uneven at some spots. Will fill and level those over time.

On a side note:
This piece you see here in the last pic and the rest of the property behind my back was an empty stand that we bought when we bought the stand with the house. So that no one can build right on your arse. It was just plain bosveld for many years and then we decided to do something with it. For those who can recall my borehole story, the 180m deep one. It is drilled on this stand.

My father removed tons of rock an bush and kak. Then he put down 3 x 10 cube loads of fresh soil. And after everything was leveled sort of. (Not to my standards) He ordered a link truck load of instant grass. They had to unhook the 2nd trailer and offload one trailer at a time, with a forklift. Moerse operation.

My dad never fscked around. When he did something he did it once and did it proper.
 
handyman007 said:
Where did you buy the spike roller?
Click to expand...
Some mower place in JHB. But tbh just order a Rolux one from your nearest Rolux dealer, should be pretty much any lawnmower place, and be done with it. The one I bought was R3k, but the welds are leaking, so you are losing water, and the frame is skewed. Once you start spiking, the skew frame does not bother you. Only when you want to move it around do you realise how skew it is.

So mine will most likely get some DIY fixes.

The smooth roller is a game-changer. I got mine from Leroy Merlin, the Red Rhino branded one. For R1400 I think.
 
W@P said:
Some mower place in JHB. But tbh just order a Rolux one from your nearest Rolux dealer, should be pretty much any lawnmower place, and be done with it. The one I bought was R3k, but the welds are leaking, so you are losing water, and the frame is skewed. Once you start spiking, the skew frame does not bother you. Only when you want to move it around do you realise how skew it is.

So mine will most likely get some DIY fixes.

The smooth roller is a game-changer. I got mine from Leroy Merlin, the Red Rhino branded one. For R1400 I think.
Click to expand...

From what I've read the step ones are both cheaper and work better.
 
animal531 said:
From what I've read the step ones are both cheaper and work better.
Click to expand...
Yes, the step ones remove the plugs, they don't just punch a hole in the ground. You get the machines as well that does that. Some places in JHB, you can rent one. But the step ones seems like a lot of work.
 
Update on the holiday home. Not the best pics, but it's something. Just waiting for the rain.

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W@P said:
Update on the holiday home. Not the best pics, but it's something. Just waiting for the rain.

View attachment 1845783
Click to expand...

How do you keep the birds from eating the grass seeds? I tried reseeding last year, but had swarms of birds pecking up the seeds (guess the bird s4it helped with compost - is that the real trick? :unsure:)
 
PhreakBoy said:
How do you keep the birds from eating the grass seeds? I tried reseeding last year, but had swarms of birds pecking up the seeds (guess the bird s4it helped with compost - is that the real trick? :unsure:)
Click to expand...
The seeds are coated. Haven't seen them munching on them.
 
Interesting thread. Will follow to learn.

Couple questions:
How often do you water?
You have any shady areas where you using something other then kikuyu?
 
Ecco said:
Interesting thread. Will follow to learn.

Couple questions:
How often do you water?
You have any shady areas where you using something other then kikuyu?
Click to expand...
I try to water as often as possible. I know some will not agree with me, but that's what I do,

Either way, I try and keep the soil moist most of the time.

The long strip against the wall that is greener than the rest is in the shade the whole day.
I put down some box seed from builders many years ago.
 
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