How to choose the right grass variety for your climate

Picking grass isn't a matter of grabbing whatever bag is nearest and hoping. It's worth twenty minutes of thinking, because the lawn you sow is the lawn you're mowing for the next decade, and the wrong variety in the wrong spot is a slow, annoying problem rather than a fast one.

Why the variety matters

Grasses are not interchangeable. Some want full sun all day and sulk in shade, others are the other way round. Some will go weeks without water and stay green, others want a drink every few days or they brown off. Matching the grass to your conditions is most of the work, and everything after it gets easier.

1. Work out your climate

Broadly, grass splits into warm season and cool season varieties.

  • Warm season. Kikuyu, buffalo and couch. These come into their own in the heat and slow right down when it's cold. They suit most of South Australia and they handle a dry summer far better.
  • Cool season. Tall fescue and ryegrass. They stay green through winter and they struggle through a long hot run without a lot of water.

2. Be honest about the effort

This one decides more than the climate does. Some people enjoy mowing and feeding and edging. Some people want it green with the least possible involvement. Neither is wrong, but the grass has to match.

  • Low effort. Buffalo or kikuyu. Hardy, drought tolerant, and they won't turn on you if you skip a fortnight.
  • Higher effort. Ryegrass or couch. They repay the attention with a finer, denser lawn, and they notice when they don't get it.

3. Look at your soil

Soil is the foundation and no amount of fertiliser fixes a bad one. Is yours light and sandy, or heavy clay?

Grab a handful and squeeze it. If it crumbles apart, you're sandy. If it holds the shape of your fist, you're clay. Tell us which one you've got when you come in and it narrows the options straight away. Clay usually wants gypsum through it before anything else happens.

4. Sun, shade and traffic

Every yard has its own little microclimates, and the spot under the tree is a different proposition to the middle of the lawn.

  • Sunny and busy. If it's in full sun and the kids and the dog are on it constantly, go for something tough like kikuyu or couch. They wear well and they repair themselves.
  • Shaded and quiet. Buffalo handles shade better than most, and it suits an area that doesn't cop much traffic.

5. How much water you'll really give it

Warm season grasses like buffalo and kikuyu will go a long way on very little and come back when the rain does. If you've got a working irrigation system and you're happy to run it, your options open right up. If you know you won't water it, pick something that doesn't need you to.

6. What it looks like out of season

Warm season grasses go off colour in the cold months. That's normal, it isn't dead, and it greens up again when the soil warms. If you want green all year, a blend that carries both warm and cool season grasses gives you something growing whatever the weather is doing.

Shop related products

Did you know we also stock gypsum for heavy clay, fertiliser spreaders, lawn rakes and Katana 18V line trimmers in the shop. Not all of it is listed online, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf.

The rest of the lawn range is in the garden centre at Building 2, 34-52 Milnes Rd, Strathalbyn. Bring us a handful of your soil and a photo of the yard and we'll talk it through.

More from the garden

There's no perfect grass, only the one that suits your yard and how much you're actually going to do. Ask me in the shop, I'm usually there.

Cheers,
Candeece

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