Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

we moved into this house last year and the backyard has small patch of dirt/lawn around 50sqm that looks like sh!te . This is an established lawn with buffalo grass but is very patchy and weedy. In winter it looks alrgiht because everything is green but come summer the weeds die and leaves prickles everywhere. My daughter has just started walking and we have to be careful she doesn't step on the prickles. The problem is that we have chickens which over winter I let roam hoping they would fix up the lawn but despite their best attempts the lawn is starting to look terrible as the weather heats up.
I water 3 times a week as allowed but the sand is very hydrophobic and doesn't absorb the water well.

I know I can easily buy wettasoil and weed and feed but the problem is that I have backyard chickens. From my distant uni days I learnt that soil wetting agents can be spermicidal and we do intend to have another child. So my questions are
what products are safe to use bearing in mind we eat the eggs of the chickens that free range on the lawn?
or is it easier to rip the lot up and install new lawn?

Having just ripped the lot up and installed new myself I'd say stop wasting time with the old stuff and get some rolls delivered. We went with Sir Walter, it should cost you around $600 delivered, and it looks amazing...

Gives you a chance to sort out the retic and level the area as well. If you are short on time then hire a dingo, they make short work of what can be a very long month of weekends.

Yea I agree with Neb.

Dont waste your time with a patchy lawn that struggles in crappy soil. Ive tried this too many times in Kalgoorlie without reasonable success.

Take a good 4 inches out and fill with some good quality topsoil, buy some roll on lawn (shop around), crack a beer, sit back and enjoy..

If you are going to lay down a new lawn, then I would ensure you prepare the sand/soil well before laying down the new turf.

(edit: As Charlie has already pointed out!... I just took half an hour typing out my post in between solving Xbox connection issues for the ruggies)

If you are going to lay it over the original grey Perth sand then I would recommend treating the sand with wetting agent and giving it a good soaking first. Some Perth sands can be very hydrophobic, so you may have to treat it with wetting agent 2 or 3 times, working the sand over to a few inches of depth and giving it a good soaking between each treatment. Then level and rake in a light dose of lawn fertiliser and water in lightly... then lay the turf.

Otherwise, I would remove at least 50mm of the grey sand and replace it with a blended soil suitable for establishing a lawn, but not one that contains Dynamic Lifter or pellitised chicken manure.

DO NOT use Dynamic Lifter when preparing the sand/soil... The sands on the Perth coastal plain are usually fairly alkaline and chook manure only raises the pH further.

I don't know about wetting agents being a spermicide, I'm a horticulturalist and for many years I looked after sports grounds and council parks and gardens... between my job and my private lawns etc, I've applied more wetting agent than I'd care to recall... and I've never heard about it being a spermicide... and I've got kids.

All the wetting agents these days are supposedly frog and fish friendly... and I dare say a problem would show in those little critters well before it'd show in us humans. I think you'll find there are probably many more "man tadpole" inhibiting products you should be more concerned about ... that you use or come into contact with everyday.

Yea I agree... Ive never heard of wetting agent being spermicidal. I like to keep an open mind but surely thats impossible.

What is... You keeping an open mind?...

You have cut me deep Dr D.... very deep

Sorry... but I couldn't let that one go through to the keeper!...

Fair game Ponting

+1 for sir Walter or palmetto,

Grow great in shade, hold colour reasonably well over winter, though it does get a bit prickly over winter for the bub. And, if you treat it like crap and let it go dry and yellow, all it takes is a weekend at the start of spring to do a low mow, fertilize, and spread organic top soil VERY thin. Stuff bounces back like a rubber ball.

Had a beautiful sir Walter lawn, but have neglected it for a year cause of baby. Doing exactly the same thing as you now and preparing my lawn for baby to play on.

I have Sir Walter in my back yard. Don't use weed and feed on it (or any of the buffalo lawns - you will just kill it).

The sandy Perth 'soil' doesn't help much. I experimented with my sprinklers. I use the MP3 rotator sprinkler heads and am meant to run the sprinklers for 40 minutes twice a week on my watering days - the lawn never did very well. If I run the sprinklers for 10 minutes every night (70 minutes vs 80 minutes) my lawn stays nice and green (while using les water).

I also have a shade sail over it which stops it from drying out so quickly.

With the weeding - grab a beer and pick on a small patch every evening after work each day and you will get on top of it. Once it is under control don't cut the lawn so low - let it be tall and thick so the weeds find it harder to get established. I probably pick about 2-3 per week out of mine.

To get it back, either do what Charlie and Mr Damage have said or were it is bad dig it out removing all the dead roots etc, fill with some good soil and let it grow back.

Concrete and put another AP system in,

Have you considered artificial? Far more water efficient.

Ive heard that stuff gets really hot in the sun. Its fairly expensive too.

Yeah - Definitely not as good as grass, though we have an area that the dog keeps digging up, and it invariably ends up as a sand patch which is hot and dusty in the summer.

A friend of mine has put it in his rental properties and recons that it works out cheaper in the long run - very little maintenance, no retic required, no water costs, no cutting. I don't think it would be good for a large expanse (too costly up front), though IMO large lawns should not be a feature in a desert climate anyhow - better off with natives and AP/wicking beds and a small patch of lawn.