I hate grass – the kind you mow :)

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Eva888

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#2678032 21-Mar-2021 17:24

Found it. https://www.nature-and-garden.com/gardening/kikuyu-grass.html

Kikuyu grass doesn’t like being mowed :)

neb

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#2678085 21-Mar-2021 22:06

kingdragonfly: Fantastic links, especially
treesforcanterbury.org.nz: Creating a lawn alternative with native plants

That list looks good in theory but doen't work out so well in practice. Most of that stuff is pretty hard to grow and will give up the ghost if it gets too wet, too dry, too cold, too warm, too much sun, too little sun, not enough fibre in the diet, etc. When it does grow, it'll often be patchy and clumpy, with random bits that decide to die off to make things look messy, or you may get too-vigorous growth in spring and then dieback in summer, or whatnot. Finally, it'll be competing with weeds so you'll probably spend a lot more time cleaning it up than you would have mowing grass.

That's the nice thing about grass, it's self-replenishing/self-healing via the mowing process. Don't underestimate the amount of work you need to put in to replace something that fixes itself.

neb

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#2678089 21-Mar-2021 22:14

FineWine:
Dichondra repens, (Mercury Bay weed), has leaves that become tighter when walked on. My brother swears by it.

I swore at it. With "weed" as part of the name you'd expect something invasive with vigorous growth, not something that dies quicker than a car fitted out by Lucas Electric. There's still a few patches left between the kikuyu and paspalum, but not much...

itxtme

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#2678090 21-Mar-2021 22:16

Eva888: Does anyone know the name of the grass that grows on the foreshore of Kapiti around the play area. That stuff seems to grow across rather than upward and feels like a very thick soft carpet. It doesn’t appear to ever be mown. I’d grow it in a heartbeat.

Sounds like Kikuyu. Doesnt seed, just spreads outwards

Edit: aah see you found it. Very drought tolerent, can be mowed, but you will need reel mower to get it looking sweeeet

neb

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#2678091 21-Mar-2021 22:20

Eva888: Does anyone know the name of the grass that grows on the foreshore of Kapiti around the play area. That stuff seems to grow across rather than upward and feels like a very thick soft carpet. It doesn’t appear to ever be mown. I’d grow it in a heartbeat.

Don't know the place but buffalo grass would be a likely candidate for something like that.

Scott3

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#2678106 21-Mar-2021 23:43

You also could consider non vegetation based permeable ground covering's. Gravel, Riverstones etc. Heaps of stunning photos of grass free landscaping online.

Or semi-permeable like ground level decking

That said I do like the look of Dichondra repens in photos.

Finally if it is mowing that is the issue, rather than just a dislike of grass, you could consider paying somebody to mow it, rather than going to the effort of re-landscaping.

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Bung

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#2678108 21-Mar-2021 23:57

neb:
Eva888: Does anyone know the name of the grass that grows on the foreshore of Kapiti around the play area. That stuff seems to grow across rather than upward and feels like a very thick soft carpet. It doesn’t appear to ever be mown. I’d grow it in a heartbeat.

Don't know the place but buffalo grass would be a likely candidate for something like that.

Buffalo is something you'd choose to grow. Kikuyu needs tight control, once it spreads you'll find it infesting any other gardens. We have stems of it growing in the walls. I found that out when it came out of an older PDL mains socket.

neb

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#2678112 22-Mar-2021 00:11

Bung: Buffalo is something you'd choose to grow. Kikuyu needs tight control, once it spreads you'll find it infesting any other gardens. We have stems of it growing in the walls. I found that out when it came out of an older PDL mains socket.

Never really had problems with it, you just need to put boundaries on it, e.g. concrete mowing strips or verges. Actually I wish I could grow kikuyu here, tried twice with outrageously expensive seed and it mostly died off again after a month or so. The naturally-spread stuff is fine, but growing it from seed doesn't seem to work.

chevrolux

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#2678169 22-Mar-2021 08:40

This stuff....

https://unreallawns.co.nz/

MikeB4

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#2678203 22-Mar-2021 09:46

Grass is great especially in cookies, scones and coffee😇

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Eva888

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#2678252 22-Mar-2021 10:24

neb:
Bung: Buffalo is something you'd choose to grow. Kikuyu needs tight control, once it spreads you'll find it infesting any other gardens. We have stems of it growing in the walls. I found that out when it came out of an older PDL mains socket.

Never really had problems with it, you just need to put boundaries on it, e.g. concrete mowing strips or verges. Actually I wish I could grow kikuyu here, tried twice with outrageously expensive seed and it mostly died off again after a month or so. The naturally-spread stuff is fine, but growing it from seed doesn't seem to work.

I wonder if sprinkling sand is the answer to your kikuyu attempts. I note that it grows very well in Kapiti Wellington next to the dunes and there’s quite a bit of sand between and under it. I’m tempted to give it a go in a small contained area.

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neb

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#2678318 22-Mar-2021 11:18

Eva888: I wonder if sprinkling sand is the answer to your kikuyu attempts. I note that it grows very well in Kapiti Wellington next to the dunes and there’s quite a bit of sand between and under it. I’m tempted to give it a go in a small contained area.

I think the problem is that it just doesn't grow from seed, I've got naturally-spread stuff from the neighbours that does fine. I don't think the ground is the problem, we're on better-quality clay than my parents' place was and their lawn was 100% kikuyu. So it's probably just a case of burying a few roots in strategic locations and waiting for it to take over.

CokemonZ

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#2680403 25-Mar-2021 14:19

Never really had problems with it, you just need to put boundaries on it, e.g. concrete mowing strips or verges. Actually I wish I could grow kikuyu here, tried twice with outrageously expensive seed and it mostly died off again after a month or so. The naturally-spread stuff is fine, but growing it from seed doesn't seem to work.

I wonder if sprinkling sand is the answer to your kikuyu attempts. I note that it grows very well in Kapiti Wellington next to the dunes and there’s quite a bit of sand between and under it. I’m tempted to give it a go in a small contained area.

If you have a clay lawn watch out about spreading sand. If you get unlucky you will essentially create concrete.

Lots of organic matter first then like 10 years later sand.

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