How to Plant a Kikuyu Lawn in South Australia

Kikuyu is one of those lawns that gets recommended constantly around here and it earns it, because it handles heat and it handles kids and dogs running all over it. When something does chew a hole in it, the grass fills the hole back in on its own. If you are putting in a new lawn, or you are trying to cover a bare patch that has never grown anything much, it is a good place to start, so here is how I would go about it.

What you are actually planting

Kikuyu came out of East Africa and it wants sun, which is why it does so well through our summers and sulks in a shady side yard. It is a creeping grass, so it spreads by runners rather than just sitting where you put it, and that is the whole reason it recovers from damage as fast as it does. It is drought tolerant too, so it will hold its colour through a dry spell for longer than a lot of the alternatives will.

The other side of all that vigour is worth knowing before you sow it. Brunnings describe their own blend as covering quickly with vigorous runners, and that is exactly what it does, which means it will run into your garden beds and under the fence into next door if you let it. A proper edge, or a mowing strip, saves you a fair bit of grief later on. I am not telling you that to talk you out of it, because it is still the right grass for most yards around here, I would just rather you knew going in.

Get the ground right first

This is the part people skip and it is the part that decides whether the lawn takes.

1. Test the pH. Kikuyu likes slightly acidic through to neutral, and if your soil sits a long way off that you are fighting it the whole time.
2. Clear the area properly. Weeds, stones, old roots and whatever else is in there, all of it out, because anything you leave behind is competing with grass that has not even come up yet.
3. Level it. Not perfectly flat, just no dips, because water pools in the dips and you end up with a lawn that goes patchy in exactly the same spots every year.

Three ways to get it in the ground

• Seed. Scatter it evenly over the prepared soil in late spring or early summer, once the soil is warm enough to get it moving, then rake it in gently and water it thoroughly. This is the cheapest way in and it is what we sell.
• Turf. Lay it over the prepared soil and press it down firmly so the roots are actually against dirt rather than sitting on top of it, then water it generously.
• Sprigs. Plant small segments of grass into the soil, again making sure there is good contact all the way down, and water them well.

The first few weeks

New Kikuyu needs the soil kept consistently moist without being waterlogged, so that usually means watering daily until it is up and away, and easing off as it establishes rather than stopping all at once.

Leave the mower alone until the grass is about 75mm high, and when you do start, set the mower high. Cutting a new lawn short is the fastest way to set it back, and it is a very easy mistake to make when the thing finally looks like a lawn and you want to tidy it up.

Feed it at about the six week mark with a balanced fertiliser. Any earlier and you are feeding weeds as much as grass.

Keeping it once it has taken

Mow it regularly, because regular mowing is what makes a creeping grass thicken up instead of running long and thin. Feed it in spring and again in autumn, which are the two times it is actually growing hard enough to use it. And keep half an eye out for pests and disease, since catching either one early is the difference between a spray and a re-sow.

The difference between a lawn that takes and one that does not is almost always the preparation, and most people work that out on the second attempt, which is an expensive way to learn it. Nobody starts knowing this stuff. If you are not sure what your soil is doing, bring a photo in and have a yak with us about it, because it is a lot easier to sort out before the seed goes down than after.

Shop related products

• Brunnings Kikuyu Lawn Seed 1KG. Enough to do a decent area from scratch.
• Brunnings Kikuyu Max Lawn Seed 135g. The small pack, for a bare patch rather than a whole yard.
• Brunnings Turbo Patch Repairer For Lawns 800g. Seed and a wetting agent together, for the bits that never took.
• Neutrog Blade Runner Lawn Fertiliser 15KG. The feed once the lawn is established.
• Brunnings Green Up Lawn Food 2.5kg. The smaller bag if you have not got fifteen kilos worth of lawn.

The rest of it is in the garden centre range, and it is all on the benches in the shop as well if you would rather look at it in person.

Keep reading

• What organic products can I use to fertilise my lawn?
• How to Prevent Lawn Burn in the Harsh Summer Sun

Candeece. Kikuyu goes where it likes and I gave up pretending I am in charge of it a while back.

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