Hi Chris – today was the day! I fetched my grass sods from our friend, Kevin, who grows the most amazing indigenous grass. (Star Light Lawn) This grass is Cynodon – an indigenous grass, valued for its drought tolerance compared to most other lawn grasses. Also known as Bermuda grass, originally from the savannas of Africa. It grows in open areas where there are frequent disturbances such as grazing, flooding, and fire.
Although most of these species have remained in Africa, today Cynodon dactylon is found in warm climates all over the world between 45° south and 45° north latitude. It can be found growing in pastures and the understories of open woodlands and orchards. It is called bermuda grass in the United States because it was introduced from the Bermuda Island.
Bermuda grass is a creeping grass, and will creep along the ground and root where ever a node touches the ground, forming a dense mat. It also reproduces from roots under the ground. It has a deep root system, and in drought situations the root system can grow 47 to 59 inches (120-150 cm) deep. Most of the root mass lies 24 inches (60 cm) under the surface.
To contact Kevin for roll-on-lawn at Star Light Lawn, please phone 082 441 3696 / 021 572 0089 or email info@starlightlawn.co.za
Watch the video below to see how easy it was!
16 replies on “New grass patch”
Loved the video. Cute of you sitting in the bed when completed. Guess you don’t know that here in the southern US, gardeners curse bermuda grass because we can not keep it out of the flower beds, it can’t be killed easily, and even invades raised beds. I hope it’s better behaved for you!
Oh dear – I know it is an indigenous grass and seems to be very hardy! I’ll have to keep a watchful eye on it! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Hi Barbie – A question for you … how did you prepare the soil before laying your lawn? I’m planning to redo mine soon and have been reading up and so am interested in what you did.
Oh – it was weeks of prep work. I had to first remove the old grass – all of it – and then remove some of the soil to get it to the right height for the sods (40-50mm). I mixed a bit of compost to the final area and raked it so that it was all smooth and even. I know that my clay soil might not be the ideal base for this grass, but I will monitor it. The chickens walked and pecked through it for weeks so I hope they laid some “nutrition” too. 🙂
Oh my goodness! I didn’t realise this was a video! VERY cool Barbs! Love it 🙂
Heehee!! Hannes took the photos to make the gif movie – he thinks of everything 🙂
Wow! I love your video…super cool and motivating when you see a project come together so *quickly*!!! One question I have after reading your post is whether the grass will escape your designated area? I see you have built a wood section for the grass but did you have to dig down into the ground and put something in it to keep it from growing under the wood box and then traveling to other areas? Just curious…maybe you are not intending for it to stay just in the one section…
Hi there! Thanks – we had lawn here before and with the chickens and all the heavy building we did over the years, this grass area was destroyed. So this ‘blocked off’ area did contain the grass but I did, certainly, have to monitor the roots travelling out of the box. We are going to lay stones around the edge of the house as well, so this might also help keep it out. But with a small patch I think I can manage. Lets see! 🙂
cool animation 🙂 i also have bermuda grass in my garden. i’d say they’re pretty high maintenance as they require trimming almost every week. i’m thinking of switching to carabao grass which is low maintenance plus the bunnies love them. you did a great job!n happy gardening!
~ANGEL~
Thanks Angel! I know my chickens will help me keep the lawn cut. They do eat grass as well. I’ll keep you posted on this patch!
Great job! Love how you displayed your efforts…how did you do that?
My hubby is the fab movie man. He took photos on a tripod, so the camera was kept in place. Then he animated them by using Photoshop! Then saved as a gif animation!
hahaha, it looks so easy to do the way you posted it, but here in the tropics it takes sweat and tears. And after a few days a lot of dicot weeds will be growing and the end of your joy! How lovely if it will be like that in your case!
Hi Andrea – it LOOKS easy. I also laboured – thank goodness I had the energy to do this! I would not have tackled it if it was a huge garden. It is a small piece so lets see if I can manage the weeds and if my chicken will help! 🙂
It looks great! You did a great job! Bermuda grass is supposed to be very easy to care for.
Thanks for the positive post – I hope so! My main reason was to have a place to put my deck chair when I relax in the sun after all the hard work in the garden! 🙂