Brr, Winter is creeping its head around the corner isn’t it? Gone are the days of shorts and singlets and the days of long pants and cold hands are upon us. That is unless you area toddler and feel no cold…My toddler is still trying to get naked and play outside. And now has the worst snotty nose. If I was a mean mother I would say nananenanar I told you I was right, but I’m not so I will just wipe his nose with my really cold hands and say gross, where are your socks?
In winter we all get less sun in our yards and in fact in our days, so I think the true test of preformance of all grasses is how they cope in winter. Do they die off and go brown in winter? Do they go patchy when you still have active kids on them? Do they rest and still look green? Do they slow down conserve and not need as much mowing, but still look healthy?
At the moment I have put down two grasses in Mum and Dad’s back yard that were left over from a couple of different installation jobs we did. At Coastal Turf we always believe that when we are installing we take an extra 5% than measured to make sure we definitely have enough turf after cutting into corners and the rest (don’t want to give away all our trade secrets; But we do recommend that customers get an average of 35 more when cutting into corners and werid shapes). And that means that we usually end up taking some home. The back yard in winter is dark and wet at the moment (we have the septic tank coming out onto this spot)so it needed a thirsty grass there that would also thrive in the dark. So we decided to conduct a quick little experiment for the winter, so when I say on the phone that this really is the best grass for your lawn I have tested it.
We installed these grasses about 3 weeks ago so they are rooted into the ground. We decided to get Mum to look after them because she isn’t a turf Farmer, and will look after the grass like a customer who would have put it in and walked away. And this is how they look now…
Empire Zoysia on the left and Palmetto Buffalo on the right
Now also bear in mind that they were off cuts. But lets see how the winter takes us. I hope this gives you an educated opinion.
Thanks Sare