Cheers,
Dee.

Are you doing a no dig garden, based on organic principles, or are you doing it cause it is easy and quick to start growing.

If organic principles are important to you I would ditch the synthetic carpet idea.

Happy no-digging.

I had a little giggle thinking of you putting carpet all over your front yard, the neighbours looking on thinking what a nut you are !

I live on acres...and I have come to the conclusion that it is actually easier to mow, than to have garden beds, or bushland. I have plenty of bushland, mind you, its the weeds there, that keep me busy.

I wouldnt take the synthetic carpet, it might end up being a pain as it wont degrade properly, and that could be a problem.

Happy getting rid of your grass.

Popi

5 months - thats nothing in mowing language, I've built up huge muscles on my arms from mowing for that last 6 years. Its character building !

Mind you I love winter, then the grass doesnt grow.

Plus I think it's a complete waste of time. I'm happy to water, weed and mulch--can see the benefit of that--but think that all that grass is useless and resent having to expend so much effort and sweat on it. (And don't get me started on the line edger!)

As for character building, if you could see the expression on my face you'd worry about the sort of character it was building!

I agree with you, grass is a waste of space. Grow organic veges, and be healthy. Get some chooks and you'll be set.

All the best to you my friend.

Regardless of that, I DO think your idea of turning much of it into no dig garden is excellent. I would not, however, use a synthetic carpet underneath. For starters it will certainly help stop the weeds growing through it, BUT, when you get weeds in the upper part, that put their roots down through the synthetic backing on the carpet, you will have a difficult time getting them out, just as happens with weedmat. THEN, when you finally decide you want to get rid of the horrid stuff, you will have to pull up the whole garden to get it out.
That's my opinion anyway, and now I think I will just wander out and see if there is something I am missing out on in the way of grass care..............

Plus the grass catcher is small; if I haven't mowed for three or so weeks, I can't even mow 2 square metres without having to empty it. (Which means tramping all the way to the compost bin at the back of the yard and then back again.) Plus the awkward areas, where it's hard to turn around (esp. with a cord). And my right hand is sore afterwards, because I have to push the mower solely with it (the other one holding the cord away) *and* keep pressing the safety switch (or the engine cuts out). Mowing an acreage on a ride-on mower where you have free movement is no comparison!

My lawnmower is suited to the area of grass I intend to have, not the larger area I have now. That's why I chose electric over petrol (hate petrol), and why I hope to reduce the grassed area before the lawnmower gives up.

And then there's the line edger. Last attempt (I checked the clock) it took 40min of fiddling with the line (winding; rewinding; then trying to reassemble it so that it would let the line unwind) to get one metre of edging done. It's electric too--a Ryobi that takes a 2mm line--and a piece of crap. I'll just have to bite the bullet and get a petrol one with a thicker line so that I can do the edging in one day--one arvo even--as my neighbours do. Using it is an exercise in frustration and wasted time and effort, and even when I reduce the lawn to pocket-handkerchief size it won't be able to do the job. It's just a piece of rubbish.

So that's why it takes so long, and why I'm dead set against having lawn.

I take your point about the difficulty of pulling weeds thru weedmat, because I had to do it in a small bed here. Didn't keep the weeds down but made it damn hard to pull them out.

I use it for edges, and grass on banks, that I cant get the mower to. It also does lantana, and weeds such as that.

Dont like black weedmat either, it is hard to pull weeds out of, and its there forever.

Cestrum, I am sorry you are having such an anguished time in your garden, with the grass and all.

Still, I'm grateful that at last I have my own piece of land and a place where, once the beds are created, I can start planting out my collection of potted shrubs, trees and climbers. I can't wait!

Popi, I'm interested in your brushcutter. Can it cut cut the grass along buildings? Is it petrol-powered? What make/model is it? Might be just what I'm after.

My brushcutter is just a normal old petrol one, ryobi, I think. Its the blades that are the bit I was raving on about.
(Yipee its raining !) Dont you love rain.

Yes it can cut grass along buildings. Go to a mower shop, I am sure they would have the blades, they are plastic, in a pack of four. They are called weedwacker. Cost about $25. So you could try it out and see how you go. The blades fit onto all brushcutters, I believe. They are easy to fit on, you just have to remove that casing that holds the plastic cable, that keeps jamming up and driving you insane.

All the best.

There is a specialist mower shop near me, so I'll drop by and see what they have. Blades definitely sound better than wire.

Keith

It looks rather pretty as well.

Maybe you could scour St Vinnies and see if thats a goer.

The synthetic carpet would be good for paths and between rows in your vege garden. I put some down 10 - 12 years ago at the side of the house and covered with small river pebbles and a few weeds have only just started to appear this past few years. I had my wheelie bins at that side too and was sometimes a problem wheeling them when they were full or heavy( hard to roll on pebbles) but otherwise has been great.

Maybe your mower needs the blades sharpened or replaced. Mine was great for years and I didn't notice any problems until my dad used it one day and said he could do better with scissors. Was great after that.

By the way that mower lasted me more than 10 years, now have a new one.

Hope this helps.

Anyone interested should google up Weedwakka and order them over the internet as I do. You can by them in bulk (50) and they cost around $1.50 each.

Re the mower: my neighbour said casually yesterday that if I simply had a petrol-powered mower the job would be done in a fraction of the time. And he's right! There's too much grass for an electric mower, but I'll persevere in the hope that I'll soon be able to reduce the lawn area to a size that is more suited to the mower (and to me). There's nothing wrong with its blades, it's just designed for a small lawn.

Believe me, I've considered renting a goat--many times! Maybe I should buy one myself and rent it out to others in a similar predicament :-)

That's my experience with a goat, anyway. He was a nut, just wanted to be with me all the time and would be so fickle about what he ate.

He died, after eating a lot of lantana, I suspect it poisoned him. Then I had to dig an enormous hole in the garden to bury him.

Funny days, he was fun...but hard work. We cried when he died.

Robert, thanks for the tip about the the Weedwakkka blades, I will buy on the internet. In the shops I can get 4 of them for about $25 ! I think they are fantastic !