Help regrow grass

[JessicaFlowers]

Hi there,
I’m looking for advise on how to regrow my grass in areas that do not receive much sunlight.

I have a clay based soil which had become hard after the winter. A couple of weekend ago I mowed, removed any thatch, aerated the lawn, applied a gypsum clay breaker and fertilised. Regular watering has help break up the soil and it’s now much softer.

I’m not sure what type of grass I have, but it grows fast in the warmer months and required mowing every week. Do you think it will spread to cover the entire area or will I need to apply seed? What should I be doing over the next few months to aid growth?

(It’s spring, weather is currently ranging from 20C - 30C with rain 1-2 times a week, and approaching an Australian summer).

Any tips would be great.

Thanks

 

[redback]

Hi Jessica. I'm from SA too.
It does look a lot like couch grass and if it is it will spread in summer and all you need is to water and give it liquid nitrogen fertilizer every two weeks.
However, I'm not a lawn expert and there are a lot of similar looking varieties. So, if it doesn't spread this month take a bit to a lawn expert and get their opinion.

 

[JessicaFlowers]

Hi Jessica. I'm from SA too.
It does look a lot like couch grass and if it is it will spread in summer and all you need is to water and give it liquid nitrogen fertilizer every two weeks.
However, I'm not a lawn expert and there are a lot of similar looking varieties. So, if it doesn't spread this month take a bit to a lawn expert and get their opinion.

Thanks Redback! I’ll give it a fertilise this evening closer to sunset.

 

[redback]

It is an invasive grass (called Bermuda grass in USA). It also looks as though the previous owners(?) have been spraying the edges to keep it back from the garden. So, once you have established its ability to spread you should check to see how deep that concrete mowing strip is.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Well I see a lot of thick stolons which is not the vulgaris form of bermuda. I see a wide blade etc also not typical. In fact my knee jerk reaction was some form of St. Augustine. If the stoloniferous form is the prediminate grass of interest, maybe you could separate out one of the stolons and its root nodes and put it on a solid contrasting background for a photo shoot?

What I thought to point out about your pics is that perhaps establishing a second border further in toward the grass will be the least labor over time as nature has spoken about that dripline area. Perhaps a second row of a low maintenance dwarf buxus would look nice and frame the other plants while solving that pesky two fold problem of grass needing both sun and no tree root competion for water.

Just curious, is that a form of magnolia in the pictures?

 

[mkmiraglia]

Best treatment for grass is soil improvement and more light. So do what you can to increase sun, and improve the soil on a gradual basis. What I do (also with hardpan clay soil) it to make a nutritious mixture for soil amendment -- sand, greensand, and bone meal. I used to use peat moss as the base but I understand you can't get that anymore, so I guess just some regular garden soil. Mix this well in a big container and then, after every mowing, just spring this around on top of your grass. By the time you mow again, the grass will have grown through this treatment and you can do it again.
In the north, I seed in winter. The snow and alternate freezing & thawing draw the seed into the ground, where it will lay dormant until temps are optimal for grass growth.

 

[redback]

As you can see this topic is a popular one. Last year I listened to a young lady telling a hilarious, satirical story about how her father loved her because she had grown and maintained a perfect lawn.
Where I live there are quite a few fanatics who mow their hectare of land with their ride-on mowers twenty-five times a year.
You have the paradoxical lawn problem. Whether the grass be couch, buffalo or kikuyu it is very tough and will survive a three-year drought, but it spreads like most tough plants. Therefore, if it does start spreading you will have to decide on a strategy to prevent it getting into the surrounding garden. The existing concrete mowing strip is pretty good defense against it getting into the surrounds.
The other question is the shading of the lawn by large evergreen trees. If you could stand to the south and photograph the plantings on the north-side of the lawn, we would have some ideas about how best to prune to allow sunlight in.