Sunday 25 November 2012

Grassy knolls

Green grass. It's never really existed on one side of the Sow's Ear. Until now that is.

On Friday we spent most of the late afternoon and early evening rolling out turf. What I can take away from that experience is that a roll of turf is a lot heavier than it appears. It never occurred to me that I would barely be able to lift and carry the turf to where it needed to be laid.

Holy mother of lawn clippings! Thank goodness we were only turfing one small section of our yard. We chose Sir Walter turf because of its hardiness and it grows well in shaded areas. It is a type of buffalo grass.

The aim of the new lawn is just to minimise the dust and mud after all the renovation work on this side of the house - removal of tree stump, broken concrete and asbestos; and the construction of new stairs and weatherboard cladding.

The new lawn also softens what was previously a barren wasteland of nothing. You can see for yourself what it was like in the first two images below.

The sunroom side of the Sow's Ear in 2009

Side stairs circa 2009
The turf and the soil arrived on Friday. Unfortunately there was a stuff up and the turf arrived about 5 hours before the soil. Oi!

It also meant that the turf was blocking our access to where the soil needed to be spread. Oi!

The soil delivery guy would've been able to dump the soil straight to where it needed to be...but instead, we had to shovel it into a wheel barrow, manoeuvre around the turf and shovel it out. Oi!

Anyway, best not to dwell...

Turf blocking the way for the soil.

Jason starting to lay the first few rolls of turf

This shot was taken late this afternoon after a good watering
This part of the Sow's Ear has come a long way from the 2009 photos. I had forgotten how sad it looked...We have our fingers crossed that the grass will survive.

14 comments:

  1. With 3 boys you will be glad you went for Sir Walter. Our 3 kids (including one footy kicking, cricket batting & bowling boy) give it a run for its money and it is still going strong nearly 3 years down the track and without a lot of love and attention.

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  2. What a difference some turf makes. The Big Fella is always reclaiming bits of yard here for the turf crusade. I'm with Ms Airgap on the Sir Walter. We have three hard core cricket and footy players and the chooks give it a regular going over too but it still looks green and lush after several years.

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  3. It's a wonderful improvement. May your paths always be green!

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  4. That's looking very well, and much softened. A few stray daisies now and the grass will be right at home.

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  5. It's looking good. Just in time for summer.
    And shovelling soil keeps you fit. Jx

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  6. That makes such a wonderful difference. Everything is coming together beautifully.

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  7. What a transformation! Oh yeah, those turf rolls are killers. We turfed 144 sq m in the last place. The turf was dumped on the front footpath and we had to carry it 100 paces and 20 steps up the side of the house up to the back yard. I can still feel the pain. Oh the pain! Well done! A-M xx

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  8. It looks fabulous! Yes, I bet it was heavy, soil is bloody heavy! Lots of water, lots of water and all will be good x

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  9. Good old turf, we just did our place too to get it ready to sell. Amazing looking back at your place in 2009 - bet you miss that bewdiful heritage green.

    Ahem.

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  10. looks fantastic darl, its amazing what a bit of roll on turf can do. instant fix for anything! hope your back is holding up ok today! xx

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  11. Sow's Ear has come a long long way...I'm sure she's grateful!

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  12. Aye! You'll be happy with Sir Walter. It's a fantastic grass for our climate. Just make sure you look after it well for the next few weeks. Gosh, I better stop before I give you the whole sales spiel - family has a turf farm and is one of the main growers of Sir Walter.

    It looks fantastic! Gosh the place has come a long way since you started work on it.

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  13. The house is sitting pretty! Lawn in like shining clear skin for a house. We like to stroke our luscious Sir Walter. It certainly value adds

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  14. What an amazing result. Worth all the effort.
    It's been great following this renovation project and seeing the end result:)

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