Like everyone in the Tweed Shire, we are extremely wet that the moment. Last week we had water over my hips. Not that I am tall, but it was still a very lot of water.

Usually I encourage people to come out to the farm and walk across the different paddocks with their shoes off to feel what their new lawn could will feel like. And smell what their new lawn’s aroma could be freshly mowed. And gaze at what the beauty of their new lawn could be.

 

This week I would not encourage anyone to come out to the farm. Rather call into JH Williams at Chinderah Industrial estate and check out our display plots there. We have worked with the block guys to have samples of the Qld Blue, Palmetto Buffalo, Wintergreen Couch, Shademaster Buffalo and Empire Zoysia areas 9sqm wide so you can have a chance to walk bare foot across the grasses and choose which is best for your home. The Block boys have all the info on the different grasses, and quick access to give me a call to meet you up there this week. I am happy to walk to lawns and help you choose.

Head down to 24 Ozone Street, Chinderah NSW or give myself a call on 0431 014 951 or Blake at the yard on 02 6671 2200. The yard is open all weekend, so you can easily access all the different lawns at your leisure. And take your mobile so you can either give us a call or go to our website and check out the turf details.

 

Have a great weekend, and give us a call for the best Lawn on the Coast.

Chat soon

Sare

What an exciting week we have had here at Coastal Turf. And I have learnt so very much.

I have learned that rain can bring joy as well as hell.

Its not often that my kids can canoe across the farm. Our paddocks were saturated from Wednesday night to Saturday morning with water that was higher than my hips. Not that I’m very tall (I have one son taller than me already. But I am 169cm tall.) but that was a lot of water across the farm. Now to the three of us grown ups at the farm, my Father, Turfman and I, this was a mini hell of watching our farm go underhand under with more water than we had seen away from the ocean.  And it brought lots of joy to our kids who got to swim and play across the farm. They have always wanted a pool at home. Unfortunately we had 300sqm of Green couch which was harvested on pallets that went under the water.

The pallets are roughly the 1.3m tall. And on Thursday morning we couldn’t see the pallets at all. By Friday the water had gone down enough for us to see the pallets and the kids had found the canoe on a neighbours paddock and brought it back so they could go across the farm. (I have also learned  that I am a really really bad at canoeing.I believe our canoe is too small and only for kids size. Even though my son is bigger than me and has coordination and stuff that I may not have. But I think its the size of the boat)

This 300sqm of Green couch was given to the Tweed Shire Council to assist and provide turf to people affect by the flood and in need of bank stabilisation and to stop any more erosion control.

Coastal Turf sends our love to all the people effected by the waters of 29th March. It was an event that I do not believe will be forgotten easily or quickly. As much fun as my kids had in the flood waters of the farm, I know it was not a happy event by any stretch of the imagination.

On Monday the paddocks were back to normal-ish. I learned that I have patience. Especially when on Sunday I finally drank that nice bottle of Red Wine that I rescued from the flood waters. I also learned that Red wine is delicious, but it can lead to sore heads. Most of the water had receded Monday and we could walk across most of the farm. I really enjoyed this much more than swimming. I am not the type of person who enjoys unknown things touching my feet. And there was a lot of that on Friday and Saturday. As well as the occasional snake trying to swim its was out of the flood waters. Thank goodness we always take a dog with us everywhere. Even to swim across the paddock.

Over the last 5 days I have learnt so much about our family and how well we come together in a crisis; How well we know the farm like the back of our hands when we can drive trucks and tractors out without being able to see the roads; and how in times of Bad we can see some good.

 

Chat soon to all the amazing people in our area who through so much we have done so much.

And we can still help you get the best lawn in your street before Easter.

Sare

I have a very physical job that often creates minor problems for my body. In particular I have silly wrists that have a habit f trying to dislocate if I pick up anything too heavy. And the Turfman after years and years of picking up turf and turning Turf into Lawns has shoulders that can become very sore. And thats why we go to a Chiropractor and encourage all of our team to use one.

Now I’m not telling you this saying that installing turf is so very hard that it is almost back braking work. NO Way. It is definitely physical, and it will get you a good sweat up, but it is doable. And it is less likely you will need a good Chiro after you install your lawn, unless you are installing 5,000,000sqm. (This is how much Turfman reckons he installed last year. I personally believe that is a vast exaggeration. I don’t even think our farm has that much turf) And we do have a good Chiro who understands we love our jobs, it is our passion and we are not going to stop so she just has to put my wrist back in and we move on.

This week on my Chiro’s Facebook page was a fantastic quote. And I think this is what gives us at the Turf farm all that happy smile on our face. Not that we are bare foot all the time, but I really do believe spending time on and around grass makes you calmer, happier and gives you the ability to take big deep breathes to keep going with the day.

 

So take my Chiro’s professional advice. Go walk on the grass, run if you can, and feel all the days “problems” become non events.

 

Chat soon

Sare

Coastal Turf is bringing in an exciting new way to purchase your new lawn this week. We are offering a Pay Now and Pay Less system.

Under this new system which starts this week, our as always, helpful staff will chat with you about the different varieties we can offer you and recommend the best for lawn for your home. We love turning people into Lawnatics!

After you have chosen the best fit lawn variety, we will then help you lock in a day for delivery or pick up. This can often be one of the hardest parts. Its really important to ensure that your new turf is turned into your new Lawn (laid or installed) on the day you receive it. So making sure you have the People Power to install your new lawn is important. Thats why we offer Saturday deliveries. Its usually so much easier to get your “Friends and Family” over for a “BBQ” to help you create your new green space.

Once you have chosen and then booked in your turf  for either pick up or delivery, you can give our wonderful office staff your credit card details or ask for your invoice to be emailed through to direct deposit the money to receive on average a 50 cents per sqm discount.

Which is a great saving. It means you can have money left over to buy the refreshments for everyone to help you celebrate your new lawn.

Chat soon

Sare

Finally the rain has arrived. And aren’t all our lawns just sucking up all the beautiful moisture.

Our lawns over the last couple of months have been working hard to stay soft the green for our enjoyment. Its time we gave back to our lawns by giving them bit of shit. And by saying that I don’t mean to tease them and say how they haven’t really been preforming to how we would have them to be over the last couple of months. I mean by throwing out some organic chicken manure based fertiliser, Dino Fert, to put back some of the healthy nutrients that your lawn has been consuming over the last couple of months.

Now none of us like throwing shit if it means that it sticks to us. And that include the smell. Thats why throwing out some Dino Fert in this rain is perfect. The little pellets are safe for people to hand throw out over your existing lawn and let the rain wash it down into the root system. That stops the smell floating through your home, and washing. The Rain is a fantastic saver. Not only will it give our lawns a great big drink and bring with it some great nutrients, but it takes the smell down to the roots as well.

So spread some shit this weekend in the rain. Dino Fert is kid and dog friendly. It won’t hurt them a bit.

 

Chat soon

Sare

 

 

Many a times I have chatted about what it is like to be part of a family farm. My family is really important part of my life. My family, like many of yours, consists of the Dad, the kids, Me (the mum) and the Dogs. I am really lucky that I can bring my Dogs with me to work everyday.

And they think they are really lucky as well. I work on the farm with my Dad, and he also has 2 dogs. So along with my 3 dogs, our little farm most days has 5 dogs running around protecting the farm from all types of evils. Like falling leaves, weird sounds, and random bursts of wind. They do let us know when some calls in to pick up their turf, which is great. But they are the type of dogs that wag their tail so much when they see you they nearly fall over.

They really do have important roles to play on the farm. Firstly the 3 girl Kelpies are there to keep the Ducks away. Ducks are mean to turf. They love to get their beaks in rip holes in the paddocks. Really not helpful at all. So The Girls run around and mostly chase each other, but keep the ducks at bay. And the noisy miners too. They are however very frightened of the Magpies and the Willy Wag tails.  My Dad’s girl is the brown Kelpie, Jessie,  and mine are the lying down Kelpie cross, Millicent or Millie and her mother, Ethel; the Hyper Olive Kelpie in the background. I swear I have never seen Ethel stay still. Even in her sleep she runs. Millie though is quite happy to take a nap anywhere. Inside Tractors included.

 

The old Black boy is my Dads dog, Indy. He was our original farm dog. Blindly loyal back then, now at nearly 15 years old just nearly blind. But he loves to come down the farm, show The Girls he is still boss, and occasionally eat our lunch before we get to it.

The big yellow man is Keith. He is our office Dog. He comes inside during summer to enjoy the air-conditioning and in the winter for the warmth. He is a large Labrador cross (crossed with something even more hunger than a Labrador! ) He is loving and cuddly. Big but not very brave.  And Keith is our mental health dog. I am a big believer in the studies showing that even by patting a dog your stress levels go down. And saying your problems out load to a dog is great mental health. They never judge, never reply with “that was stupid” just look at you lovingly and expect a cuddle.

So often down the farm or in the trucks we are alone with our thoughts; this can be a great thing, and sometimes a destructive thing. But when you have a dog with you , you are never alone. Our dogs love attention and really do make us all feel better about our day. They also love a customer cuddle as well.

So our family of fur babies is made up of a wide cross section. Our fur babies are also our test subjects. We watch they use consistently the turf. Being creatures of habit they usually run the same way every day. And we can see which varieties can handle the wear and tear of the dogs. So we can help you know which turf would be best for your yard with any type of dog you have. Be they fast and energetic, slow and slightly large (ok fine I know Keith is fat but that is part of his charm) or more relaxed.

Get your Turf from the people who grow it and know it.

Chat soon, I have a dog to cuddle and save my lunch from….

Sare

This is the month of love. February to me has always seemed a weird month for Aussies to have Valentines Day because it is so ridiculously hot that touching most nights is out of the question. My Valentines Day went this year as it does every year. Both of us totally forgetting about it until one of us picks the kids up from the bus and they get us to get something nice for the other one on the way home. I was working late last night so Tony brought me home lovely flowers. Then he went to football trying and I had a lovely dinner with 3 kids telling me about their day. (I am so glad Im not at school anymore and I don’t have to do half the things they do)

 

So in the theme of loving one and other but not being romantic, I thought we should show some love to our lawns. Being the soft play area for our families, the absorber of all the yuck that we through out on it like dog “excrement” and the cleaner of air cooler of homes, I thought we really all should show our lawns some love.

 

Thats why we are introducing Fertiliser Fridays! Helping you get your Organic S*#t together. 

On Fridays for $33 we will drop to your door a 20KG bag of fertiliser ready for you to throw over your lawn over the weekend. With all the heat and summer your lawn can stress and it will need a bit of a boost coming into Autumn. throwing out some organic chicken “S*#T” across your lawn and then lightly watering it in will not only boost your lawn now, but for the next 3 months.

And being an Organic Fertiliser, can can get the kids to throw it out over your lawn with no harm or fuss. You can sit back and have a coffee while they happy fertilise the lawn.

 

So lock your order in for a Dino Fert bag by Thursday afternoon and have the bag delivered to you Friday. Sounds easy peasy.

Chat soon

Sare

I remember as a kid my brother and I running through the sprinklers on a really hot day. We lived at the time in the Blue Mountains of NSW and we thought that 30 Degrees was the hottest temperature the planet could get to. So on a 25 degree day mum would turn on the sprinklers on our lawn, and we would get into our swimmers, so we could run through the sprinklers on the lawn. And always the neighbours kids in their swimmers too would come and run through the sprinklers as they shot out little showers across the lawn.

We had the old fashion ticking sprinklers, like the 70’s dance move. They shot out hard streams of water that we always tried to run through and see if we got a red sting lines on our back. Our neighbours were fancy and had a soaker hose sprinkler. Our lawns got enough water over the summers to stay green, thick and lush.

It was a great Australian tradition that has unfortunately dies out. It was not only great for us kids to be out together and cool, but it was better for our lawns because we  gave the grass a refreshing drink, at the time o f the day it was searching for it. Our Mothers were not the type that let us out in the middle of the day. We were out in the cooler times of the, from 4pm onwards, running under our sprinklers, giggling and squealing.

 

Not only did the sprinklers cool us down, but the lawn, and our homes as well. Making it a win win. The most important part to remember is that we were not out there for hours on end. At the most we were there for 20mins. Not only is that the perfect time for our little bodies to have been on the sun, but it is the perfect time for the sprinklers to be on our lawn. We moved it every 10 mins or so, or when one of us picked it up and ran after the others. Making sure the whole lawn got its drink, and that all of us kids were completely saturated.

I say bring back the god old fashioned sprinkler. Water your lawn for 10 mins at a time. Get your kids to giggle on your lawn. And if need be, show them how it is done!

Chat soon

Sare

With the summer heat and then heat storms you may be starting to notice puddles forming on your lawn. And you maybe thinking that this is because of there is not enough light getting in.

Well…..this is not the main cause of pooling water. Beware as sometimes water can be just as detrimental to your lawn as it  can be helpful.

We all know all living things need water to survive, its the Sesame Street song that I definitely grew up with. And we know from swimming  that submersing yourself in too much water, head under, can cause you to drown. Well the same thing can happen to your lawn.

Taking a little step back, your lawn grows from the leaf getting enough sun to absorb food and light and air. And it also desperately NEEDS space for its roots to grow and absorb food and Air. “WHAT? Your silly Sarah.” I hear you all saying. But its true.

The soil is little particles all sitting on top of each other. And these particles of they have room between them allowing access for micro organisms to move through. These micro organisms leave a trail behind them (Poo. Yep icky bug poo) which the newly developing roots of the plant follow.  When you are installing turf, especially over what was a previous lawn, it is so important to make sure the first 4cm of soil is quite loose. This allows the thin baby roots to work their way into the soil and then as they thicken, hold onto the soil, and establish really well for you. Our turf slabs come with soil surrounding the root stock with some great little micro bugs already there to help roots establishment. So if your soil is loose, it will let them all in for a party. If the soil is rick hard, then the roots cannot penetrate, and your turf will not establish.

So what makes the soil rock hard? Well funny enough, too much water can! Remember those little particles and the space between them, well if that area is so full of water long term, then the little micro organisms cannot move through. Although they attended swimming lessons they had little success in areas where they cannot get any air to breath. So to begin with the flooding of an area with water, severely depletes your microorganisms, taking away your roots food source. Then water has a tendency to move down. And as the water moves down through the soil, it pulls the soil particles down with it. This takes away the spaces between the particles, leaving no air for the micro organisms to breath, and space for them to move through. And roots just aren’t always strong enough on their own to push between the particles.  Some lawns after they have been over watered, mostly through the best intentions, often look like the lawn is mulching itself down.

When water pools on your lawn because it cannot penetrate the soil because it has no more spaces to down through, or because the area between the particles is already full of water, the water sits in these pools sometimes in the sun or just in the warm weather and starts to heat up. Think back to when you were a kid and used to love running through puddles after a storm. The warm puddles were always nicer than the muddy cool ones. (Well they were on my toes.) These puddles can warm up so much that they almost “Boil” the grass surrounding it. Leaving dead patches and unhealthy lawns.

“AHHH. So What do I do If I have water pooling on my lawn! I have killed off the micro pooing bugs, and squished my lawns roots and boiled alive my beautiful lawn!!!AHHH!” Well don’t panic. I’ll let you know when its time to panic. There is a really simple solution to this. Get a garden fork, and stab the ground. Get out your frustrations for the week, and stab your fork down into the lawn, take a step and stab again. Focus on the pooling areas, or the areas that look like they are mulching themselves down. Then move onto the rest of your lawn. Depending upon the area of your lawn, you may choose instead to invest in some spiked areovating shoes. Or have a cocktail party and insist that everyone wears spiked high heels (yep everyone!) and have them walk all over your lawn.

So in the immortal words of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the Movie, not the Tv series. Although both were pretty good) “How loose is your Goose? Our Goose is totally loose”. Make sure your soil is loose and will allow the roots and micro bugs through, and your lawn will stay green fluffy and beautiful.

Best rule of green thumb for a thick lush amazing lawn is less water more often. So 5-10 minutes of irrigation, up to three times a day is perfect. Dampen your lawn, do not drown it. And most importantly Enjoy your lawn. Its there to create you happiness.

Chat soon

Sare

 

Everywhere I have looked up on Google to find out what is happening on Australia, every even has the good old fashioned BBQ, mostly in the park, and sometimes in private residences in their back yard.

So from my extensive 5 minute research I have, probably rather biasedly, concluded that you can’t have Australia Day with out Coastal Turf’s Grass and Lawns. Here is the way I have come to this conclusion.

BBQ’s mean going outside. And when you go outside, its best to go somewhere lovely. Not all concrete bound and hot. But somewhere cool, soft green and calming. Like a park, or for better access to all the amenities your back yard.

And for a park in the Tweed area, there are no better parks for Australia Day fun than Knox Park in Murwillumbah. It has fantastic play equipment for all kids, and the grown ups as well, a great big skate park, and a fantastic soft, green lush Coastal Turf supplied  Wintergreen Couch park lawn area, perfect for the Cricket game, or football match. Depending upon the weather. If its really hot, I have found it best to stand with cool refreshment in my hand and “Field” at the Cricket match. If it is a bit cooler than a game of fast paced Touch football is on the cards for our family and friends. I am a perfect scorer in these circumstances. As I am not good at running, or catching, or any football stuff really. And while scoring I could also partake in a light refreshment filled with ice as well. The wintergreen couch provides great ball rolling ability as well as being comforting when you dive for that catch, or get “touched” a little too hard and your body makes contact with the grassed areas.

But if its the Beach, you are looking for, then Cabarita Beach Headland, Kingscliff Beaches, and Pottsville beaches parks all have the perfect green grassed areas to picnic and get changed on. As these are of course Coastal Turf Blue couch. This super soft lawn area will comfort your feet after the heat of the sand, and provide your picnic blanket with a comforting padding to sit and eat upon. And it is perfect for those accidental spilled refreshments. It will soak it right up. No mess, No Fuss.

But if you like to be responsible and partake in more alcoholic Refreshments and not have to drive around, then the Coastal Turf Backyard Lawn is perfect for you.  We will be match the tight grass to your area. Making sure you get the right grass for your area first time. Creating the best BBQ and play area for family and friends to come and praise you on.

Whether it be the thick leafed spongey Palmetto, perfect for low light yards, and those with kids with Trampolines. My yard has super spongey Palmetto around our trampoline for 3 years now and it takes hardly any water and less mowing to stay nice and thick and soft for the kids bare footed. Its great.

Or a Zoysia yard for those with a softer side but still have the kids and dogs using the yard for family fun. Its great for those at home touch football matches. The Zoysia cushions you as you fall, and then have several if not all the kids jump on top of you.

Or a family favourite the Coastal Mix yard. The combination of the two types of grasses tother make it a very cost effective lawn. Not just in the initial purchase of your turf, but in the maintenance and up keep of the lawn. Using a third of the water to stay green and thick, the Coastal Mix is perfect for high use areas, with family fun all year round. And especially on those awesome Public Holidays (or basically a 4 day weekend!) when you can have several BBQs and refreshments with friends, guilt free.

We can bring you a beautiful Coastal Turf lawn this Wednesday all ready for you and your family and friends to out down on Australia Day. Nothing more Australian than helping out a Mate! Lock your delivery in now for a Late Wednesday delivery, or a Friday morning delivery. Make the most of our semi-Four day weekend.

 

Chat soon, And have a great Australia Day

Sare

Coastal Turf will be eating laminations and having a sausage sizzle on the 26th January, but back on the 27th to fulfil all your Lawn needs.