SHOULD WE GIVE UP ON LAWNS?
Published 1 year, 1 month ago in Uncategorized.Should I give up trying to have lawns at my house? I have fairly big lawn areas at front and back (by inner Melbourne standards). I run the washing machine water onto them and some dishwashing water gets chucked there but it doesn’t seem to help in this drought. I’m putting in two water tanks but I’ll probably end up using most of that water on shrubs, vegies and other plants rather than the thristy old lawns. And tanks of course only work if we get a bit of rain in the first place… Should we lawn-owners just give up and plant native gardens and have rockeries and all that stuff? Or has anyone tried so-called “drought resistant grasses'’?
11 Responses to “SHOULD WE GIVE UP ON LAWNS?”
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I think we might have to ‘cos it seem like it’s getting into the too hard basket.
Last year I did manage to keep mine reasonable green with the washing water (I shared it between the garden beds & lawns) but I think it’s a lot drier this year and I rather save my garden beds so the lawns may have to go to God.
lawns are much better for families with children. try playing backyard cricket on a rockery!!!!
Have you considered native lawn grasses:
Weeping Grass / “Griffin” Microlaena stipoides (C3)
Wallaby Grass / Austrodanthonia geniculata (C3)
Red Leg Grass / Bothriochloa macra (C4)
As a C4 or summer grass Bothriochloa is the most drought tolerant and the easiest to get established given the drought conditions. C4 grasses are able to actively grow during the heat and dry of summer where as the C3 grasses tend to shut down and brown off unless there is sufficient moisture.
gregsplants@eftel.net.au
Greg,
good to see you on nook. Are the grasses you mentioned available as seed, runners or established turf?
ah……….we need a horticulturist on here………welcome greg.
Less lawn to grow, less lawn to mow! It’s a win-win situation!
Much as I do rather like the look of all things green and growy (plants, that is, not mold), I just don’t think it’s worth spending “actual water” (e.g. not grey water/recycled water) on maintaining a lawn unless there’s a reason beyond aesthetics - e.g. kids.
Better to use the water for an extra long shower instead.
That’s great info - thanks Greg. These C4 grasses: are they like “normal'’ (exotic i suppose) lawns or are they rougher, stiffer or sharper? Can you walk on them with bare feet for example?
The previous owners to this house must have got it right. In spite of a drought I still have “lawn” or at least a bunch of weeds holding down the soil with some grass in between. I haven’t watered once since the restrictions came in. I’m told lawn always survives and will grow back quickly once the “rain starts again”. Think of the free time not mowing the lawns as an incentive to be positive about something we can’t change….sorry nooknook….not laughing at you.
Couch, kikuyu, (some say buffalo, but I don’t). Forget the rest.
I spent over $500 on tall fescue smart grass seed (I have a huge backyard) over 2-3 years and, when we got occasional rain, it survived ok, but grew very lumpy and clumpy because you did not mow it much. It wouldn’t take on slopes. When we got a long hot summer, followed by a dry winter and another hot summer, it all died. And it is not self repairing, so you are up for more seed money. Fescue has had it’s day.
Get a nice couch, or buffalo if you must, and mix in rye grass as well. This way the couch dominates over summer, and the rye gives you green over winter. It’s what the lawn experts are recommending you do. Only thing with couch, until it’s established after a few years, you will have to nourish the soil, i.e. fertilize.
Currently I am enjoying a native garden of bare soil, with the occasional weed, until the paving blokes come.
Under the current climatic conditions, C4 grasses tend to use water more efficiently. These C4’s also grow more effectively under low nutrient/fertility conditions, which means they need less fertilizer then C3 grasses.
Native grasses in general are adapted to Australian conditions, meaning regular droughts and low rainfall. Australian natives are usually the first to recover after a drought, and once established can survive with minimal or no watering at all. It’s important to remember that we are living in a desert and this weather is here to stay. There is no use just hanging out for when it rains again, why not learn to love our natives, even if they do go a bit brown and crispy..!
Yes, people are more important that some blades of grass.