Archives for January 2011

True Blue Aussie Grass – That’s what Aussie Blue Couch is – it even has it in the name. Its tough, but really soft and cuddly underfoot, drought tolerant and down right beautiful. That’s all the qualities that I think all Australians have.

We are

Tough – when the going gets tough we all band together and fight it out to the best of all Australians

Soft and Cuddly – Not meant to mean we are all unfit, but meant to mean we are appraochable when someone needs help, and always ready to lend a sholder to someone to cry on

Drought Tolerant – droughts we can live through them, floods Ha we can concer them, normal every day weather – well when it comes Australians will get that as well. Luckily we have the grass to stand on

Down right Beautiful – Everyone of us are Gorgeous. In our Smiles. In our Laughter. In our Comradeship. We all just Rock! As a nation and as a people we are gorgeous in body and mind. And that is what really counts.

So Australians get behind Australia’s Real Aussie Grass! Aussie Blue! Its True Blue!

Most of the feedback we get here at Coastal Turf at the moment is about the Evil Grass Nibblers Lawn Grub. Really the reason most of us get lawn is to enjoy not to pamper and think about its every need all day long. That’s why people have families and pets, at least they can express their love a little better.  A lovely lush lawn is wonderful though and should be enjoyed! Kids adults and pets should be able to play, rough house and in pets cases poo and wee on it ( did you here that Marcus! Only cats and dogs and yes Frogs wee on the grass. Try to use the toilet honey – we are toilet training my 2 year old. He has his favorite patch of grass to wee on at the moment. Its really green but we are trying to spread the urea content throughout the lawn.Any way really off track). So an easy to maintain grass that soft underfoot and not that delicious to Lawn grub sounds like the ideal!

At Coastal Turf we have Coastal Mix that is a blend of Soft beautiful Queensland Blue Couch and Carpet grass that Lawn grubs find disgusting and is an excellent traffic tolerant grass. Its like the perfect family grass because it soft but hardy and wont want you out maintaining it every weekend. So instead of paying the grass attention you can play on the grass instead. We have sold this grass to a lot of families as well as a several Pre-schools. So that shows you how hardy the grass is to with stand twenty five 4 year olds putting it through its paces 5 days a week and then having volunteers mowing when they can. (And Marcus believes that a little urea in the right spot helps it along at our house.  Still trying to encourage the toilet.) So give us a call and get Mick to come and give you a fee measure and feel of our Coastal Mix. I promise the sample is Marcus free.

As some might know I broke my ankle 2 days before Christmas, feel down a step! Not even a good story. But anyway I am not the type of girl or mother who sat down and did nothing for the last very long weeks instead I went out on our Coastal mix with crutches and being the  coordinated person I am (obviously as I feel down a step in the middle of the day and the only thing I had drunk was water!), I can personally vouch for its softmess when you land on it.

Chat soon Sare

Weekends are a great time for my kids. Their dad is still usually busy at work on Saturday, so we come and visit Grandma and Poppa. Holl loves this time as she gets to get down into the dirt and mud (literally at the moment) and work with the boys. She unlike the boys is not camera shy, and loves getting her photo taken with HER POPPA. So at 4 (nearly 5 I am told) Holl is in training for lawn mowing. She is certain that she can mow the lawn herself and then move onto the Turf Farm, but we think she may need a little longer. Like when she can hold onto the steering wheel herself and learn that it’s not good to scalp the turf around the office. She is very lucky to have her Poppa to teach her and the boys these things. They say Grandparents have the time to share their knowledge and grand-kids need to make the time to listen. My kids are listening cause they are being told about fun things like “How to Drive” and “How to pull a Tractor apart and remember to put it back again” and “Snack time”. Definitely a huge plus having a family business is that your kids are not just a part of the business, they are why you have the business. So mow on Holl..

Thanks

Chat soon

Sare

Hi,

As I mentioned before I get a lot of phone calls from people who have mowed their lawn too early after installation and it dies off. But even after your lawn is established it is still important to take some care when mowing your lawn. For instance some grasses, like Wintergreen couch, can Scalp when mown too low. This means that a white scaring appears on your freshly mown lawn- Basically more than the leaf head has been taken off. Almost like braking your nail too far back on your fingertip. Level 3 on your mower is an ideal level to cut your grass at, but if it is really long, ideally (and I understand that not all of us have all the time in the world to donate to our lawns) mow it on a higher level one day and then 2 to 3 days later mow it lower again. Thia will cause the grass less stress.

As you can see it is not the end of the world, and your grass should come back from it, but it will leave it looking a little crew cut for a while.

And really what we all want is easy as possible lawns, to play and admire but not work all day on.

Yours in turf

Sare

Water in Queensland is an amazing thing. Queensland seems to either have not enough of water and be in drought or have exorbitant amounts of water that causes all  the disasters floods. My Uncle lives in Toowoomba and it was a long few hours before we could contact him. And then when his phone wouldn’t answer we feared the worse, but he was like many others, receiving calls from family and loved ones to make sure he was ok. His house was a little island in a torent river he said, and the scariest part was that he lives on the side of a hill. I am still amazed that about the amount of water that fell so quickly.

I also have cousins and an Aunt and Uncle who live in the Lockyer Valley. Again a few panicked hours for them as the water rose. They did manages to save all their animals and live stock and their house was only washed. But being stuck in a house and not being able to help others was frustrating they texted – because they couldn’t phone out as they were waiting for emergency services to call. My amazing cousin is a Paramedic with Queensland Ambulance and needs a lot of praise for her as well as her whole service. They waded in and out of water, far deeper than they expected to people who had called for help. Even thinking about the  people who needed help as well as those selflessly helping is welling up tears in my eyes. This whole crisis is so emotional and I must give praise to all those working so wonderfully together and using an emotional struggle to bind peole together rather than tearing them apart.Congrats you amazing people!

We are one of the few turf farms that didn’t go under and float away. Our hearts and minds go out to those in Esk at the wonderful turf farm there. May the sky’s shine warmth and the ground absorb all your water.

All our best wishes and prayers to you all. I wont put in any photos today as the whole visual realization of the floods is way too emotional for me.

Sarah

No this isn’t a picture of Holl my daughter swimming across the farm, but of her at her last Swimming Carnival. But I thought it was very fitting considering the weather. The farm is rather drenched at the moment, and fortunetly we haven’t gone under as yet. I am glad that I got Holl those swimming lessons though…

Sare

I really do wish that the Rain would go way and come again another day. School holidays with kids inside is bad, but having Farmers inside I think is a little worse. Especially Turf Farmers who just want to be out on their farms. some people are just outside bunnies.

I had a call from a lovely lady who after laying her turf in the pouring rain today remember after the turf had been laid that she hadn’t put down any fertilizer first. “its OK” I said,”The best time to fertilize your lawn is in the rain because the rain saturates and dilutes the organic fertilizer down to the roots”. Hurray!! So I guess the rain isn’t all bad, at least this lovely turf layer’s lawn will still get the nutrients it needs.

So for all of us who aren’t unfortunate enough to be installing turf in the rain and have an already established lawn, now is a great time to fertilize. (And to watch out for lawn grubs! But lets focus on the positives). So make hay while the sun shines but spread Organic fertilizer while it rains!

Yours in Mud
Sare