Turf Drainage

Grass lawns do not favour aquatic growing conditions. The more drainage and air space you can provide for the plant roots to growing in will mean a healthier stronger turf grass cover. Lawn drainage can be resolved in a number of ways.

Adding sand to the soil will not improve drainage. Neither will sloping the lawn level expecting the water to run across the surface. Water will travel down through the soil or sand profile and not across the surface. The best solution is to install a sub surface drainage system e.g. Nova coil, Mega flo or even a sand slit drain system. Your drain network must have a positive drainage fall to an outlet. Keep your drainage back fill materials free from contamination so the drain lines stay active. Using your garden fork or spade to aerate and relieve surface compaction in a lawn area will greatly improve surface drainage. Seek advice from us at T.L.C before considering your drainage project.

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Grass Selection

Grass varieties have all being breed for a specific climate or site performance requirement, eg; hard wearing sports Rye grass, shade tolerant Fescues, drought tolerant couch grasses. It is important to select the best grass for your location and requirements.

It may be necessary to grow a selection of grasses in different areas of your property so that the strongest performer survives that particular condition. Cool season grasses will suffer more stress in a hot environment as much as a warm season grass would not survive in a shaded cool site.

T.L.C encourages you to consider installing warm season Couch grass varieties where ever possible in the warmer North Island areas and or Tall fescue varieties. Tall fescue has a deep dark coloured broadleaf and its cutting height can be left much longer than all other grasses. Tall fescue will also tolerate hot dry conditions but is reliant on regular irrigation in the summer.

Fine fescue grass varieties will perform better in shaded cooler areas and also look great left long under trees, slopes or as roughs on a golf course. They do require more dethatching than other cool season grasses.

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Sand Construction

This is a specialised area of lawn construction. Originally adapted for sport field and golf green construction and renovation, we have now introduced these construction techniques into residential home lawns.

These techniques are best introduced when you are faced with clay type soils and poor natural drainage. Also where soil supplies available are contaminated with more weeds it’s great to grow with a weed free product. When part of the lawn needs to be replaced or enlarged the sand specifications are always the same. The turf or seed is grown directly into the sand profile and maintained as a normal lawn. Irrigation needs to be considered for cooler grass varieties for hotter drier areas.

Sand types available in the Auckland market are Perry’s 800, Woodhill black sand and the T.L.C sand mix.

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