Let’s face it, roll-on lawn is expensive. For something so simple as putting some grass down for a lawn, which our ancestors did for free for so very long, it does indeed now cost us quite a pretty penny for this rather simple task of having some grass at our homes. In tough economic times, and for those of us who’d rather put our hard earned money elsewhere, and for new homeowners just starting out, there are other options to get our lawn near enough for free, just like our great grandparents did.
So let’s go over the various ways we can start a new lawn at low cost or no cost.
Being aware though that we are swapping spending our money, to instead use time to establish our lawns at low or no cost. In choosing these methods we are removing the ‘instant lawn’ option, to replace it will having bare lawn soils for a longer period of time as the lawn establishes itself. There is a trade-off here that we need to be aware of.
Australia’s Warm Season Grasses
Australia for the most part is a warm climate with mild winters, and as such most of our homes are best suited to grow the warm season grasses, and so we do. Male Sterile Kikuyu, Couch, Queensland Blue, Buffalo grass, and Zoysia grasses top this list of Australia’s most used warm season lawn types.
And all of these grasses grow via their runners. Grasses like Buffalo and Queensland Blue will have above ground runners called stolons, and grasses such as Zoysia, Couch and Kikuyu will have both above and below ground runners, stolons and rhizomes.
This article will concentrate on the warm season grasses we most often use as lawns.
Using Lawn Runners To Grow A New Lawn
These runners if left unchecked will grow into garden beds and over and onto paths etc. And so all we do is grab some of those excess runners to plant out into our new lawn area. We might even be able to grab some loose runners from on top of the lawn itself.
The source of these runners might be family members yards, neighbours etc. Lawns are everywhere, and as long as we’re on good terms with those around us, there shouldn’t be any harm at all in asking, or in refusing such a simple request. This is how all our ancestors started their lawns over generations for zero cost.
Transplanted grass runners would be best planted out in mild seasons such as early Spring or early Autumn, with their roots and most of their runners dug into the soil, with the leaf material showing above ground. So long as the new runners continue to receive adequate water after transplantation, the runners will continue to spread out to give us our new lawn, for free. Take special care of the new runners in their earliest stages of moving, as this is when they will be most vulnerable to possibly dying off if not cared for properly.
Obviously the more runners we plant out, the quicker our new lawn will spread out, and vice versa if we planted fewer runners. Once the new runners are established and beginning to grow in their new home, we can give them a light dose of fertiliser to help them along.
And a small gift for the neighbour or family member who gave us our new lawn would be a great token of appreciation on our behalf.
only requiring a fraction of the effort required to install roll on turf and only little extra time to establish
saving the new lawn owner thousands and thousands of dollars
be sure to choose the donor lawn very carefully and ensure it is a quality lawn type
. . .
one option is to buy one roll of roll on turf and to break it up into pieces for a new lawn for a few dollars
Lawn Punnets
Little punnets of lawn are another option available in some areas, though in comparison to just using some grass runners for free, they could turn out to cost us more than we might want if we’re on a tight budget. Lawn punnets will usually be sold containing a licensed turf brand, and they are often recommended to be planted 6 inches apart.
Lawn punnets are an option which may suit some of us.
However a single roll of turf broken up into smaller pieces would be cheaper and go a lot further and the individual turf pieces would be much larger, which would increase the chance of success for the new lawn.
Grass Seed
Many grass seed packets can contain a mixture of cool season grasses, while some can contain a mix of cool and warm season grass like Couch, and others may be a common Kikuyu, and we can also find some gems like Zoysia as well.
Personal opinion as well as facts follows… take from it what you will… do more research.
Cool season grasses such as Rye and Fescue may or may not be suitable for your region, so research what grasses are best for where you live, cool season grasses may or may not suit your own personal preferences, so research is always the key consideration here. This is neither a yay or a nay on cool season lawn seed, only that we take consideration first.
Buffalo grasses are naturally very difficult to cultivate from seed, so Buffalo seed is out as a lawn seed option.
Couch remains a highly popular lawn option in Australia, and some cultivars are available as seed.
Kikuyu will be available as lawn seed, and though such seed may well be improved over older common varieties of Kikuyu, we can tell by the fact that it is available as a seed option that it will not be a Male Sterile Kikuyu. Take this into consideration also. Regular Kikuyu that can propagate by seed can transfer its seed into other lawns and soil areas, and can grow quickly once established. Male Sterile Kikuyu is sterile in its seed and therefore cannot spread in such a way. Male Sterile Kikuyu would therefore only be available as a roll-on lawn option or as runners taken from another established lawn.
Zoysia is the hidden gem amongst the lawn seed options. A warm season lawn whose often best cultivars are available as a seed option to us, is that gem. Zenith Zoysia and its close cousin Compadre Zoysia are the two stand outs here as being equally as good as the more expensive Empire roll-on turf option, though there may also be other options equally as good now available too. Zoysia is a fine leafed lawn, similar to Couch, though from a different grass family, it has its own unique characteristics which some people like and others may not. Zoysia is definitely a lawn type for all the warmer regions only, Perth to Sydney and northwards are all premium Zoysia regions. Do research on Zoysia first before you buy it, as it may or may not be to your own personal preference.
Follow suppliers instructions for sowing rates and establishment guidelines.
Roll On Turf
Lastly we come back to roll-on turf, but to buy it and plant it in a more frugal way.
This method would entail us to buy fewer rolls of turf, and to then cut those rolls into smaller pieces. We would then plant out those smaller slabs of turf a small distance from each other, to then allow those smaller turf slabs to spread out to cover our lawn area at a much cheaper cost.
In planting out these small turf slabs we would ensure that most of the lower part of the piece of turf is in the ground where it can be protected from moisture loss and drying out. The new small pieces of turf would then have to be watered regularly so that they always remain moist as they establish themselves, and once established and we can see that they are growing, we can then apply a light dose of fertiliser.
This is an almost identical method as transplanting grass runners, though it will have a cost.
How big each turf slab is would be entirely up to you, 50cm x 50cm, or 20cm x 20cm, whatever works best for us individually. How far apart we plant each slab is also an individual choice, though the further apart that we plant them, the longer it will take for the lawn to fully establish itself.
We may buy only a few rolls of turf and cut our cost by 80%, but it will take longer for the lawn to spread and establish, and for some of us that will be a happy compromise. For others with less patience we may want to cut our purchase in half, use bigger slabs of turf and place them closer together to reduce that same establishment time, though this in itself would create a lot more labour for us as these slabs all will need to be lightly dug into the soil during planting - which can be a very big task for larger lawn areas.
Early Spring or early Autumn would be the best times of years to do this. Though if we live in an area with mild Winters then we could also plant in Winter. If our Winters entail freezing temperatures or frost then Winter is not a wise option for us to plant out a new lawn in this way.
Summary Of Low Cost Ways To Start A New Lawn
All of the above listed ways are methods to reduce the cost of starting a new lawn. Each option is worthwhile in itself, though each option comes with trade-offs and compromises that we all should be aware of before proceeding.
Starting new lawns in these ways will always take a decent period of time before a lawn becomes fully established and ready for use, one year may not be out of the question. We need to consider this before we proceed.
Some methods may be labour intensive, such as cutting up turf rolls and then planting each individual slab into the soil. Be aware of this too before proceeding. This method may be great for a small lawn area but would quickly turn into a nightmare for large lawn areas.
Remember though, all of our predecessors planted their lawns for free, usually using grass runners as the starting base, and they waited for their lawns to establish, it was the norm, and there’s no reason why we today can’t do the same, and save ourselves great expense, if only we could get past our modern day obsession with instant gratification.
Roll-on lawns are indeed a wonderful new addition for many of us in these modern times to help us quickly and easily get our new lawns in place and ready to use in short time, and for most of us still, this will remain the preferred option to start our new lawns, and this fact won’t change. For many of us though, for many different reasons, we may seek alternative ways to start our new lawns for a much lower cost or for no cost, though what we save in money - we may often lose in time… our time to do the work and added time to establish our new lawn… but indeed isn’t this concept at the very heart of every other single way we can look to save costs in life, whereby we trade money and convenience, for the time of our labour and the time to see the fruits of our labour.
Give careful thought to these things before deciding on which path to take to establish a new lawn.
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