"Beechmere" wrote in message
om...
SNIP

Problem 1: There's a gum tree in one corner of the lawn that's
stealing all the nutrients, and it's surrounded by bare dirt. How can
I get the buffalo grass to grow right up to the base of this tree?

I would go for Tish's idea, being to mulch around the tree, out to where the
grass starts. It will save you the worry of the near impossible task of
trying to get grass to grow, and look better than having a bare patch. Apart
from it being dry and nutrient robbed there, it would probably be very
compacted.

Problem 2; Assuming Sydney gets water restrictions soon, what is the
best way to maintain my lawn's green colour throught the coming
months?

Here on the Mid North Coast we are on water restricitons. Stage 2 now, which
means no fixed sprinklers, hand water only, and hand water gardens only, no
watering of lawns!! Hitting stage 3 on Sunday, which means odd/even house
numbers falling on odd/even dates. e.g. house 51, can only water on odd
number dates....etc. And under that, it will be hand watering for 2hrs in
the morning, 2hrs at night, between certain times.

Anyway, you could take the option that some had taken here in this town
before we reached stage 2. That is water the lawn like there is no tomorrow,
with the hope that rain will come soon. However, take a look at what
happened here. They did that, now there has been 2-3 weeks of not being able
to water the lawn at all. Lawns here are starting to die off, so all that
watering they did has gone to waste.

As a greenkeeper, i like my lawn looking nice, but thankfully I took the bet
that there would be no rain, stage 2 would be reached. So now, the lawn is
slightly brown, however it would be worse had i kept it mowed short.

My suggestions would be let it go. Don't water it, don't mow it. If you
choose to water, do it at night or early morning, every 3 or 4 days.

Sorry, I haven't really helped here, but there isn't much that can be done.
Give it one more month of no rain here, and not one lawn will be looking
good (not legally anyway).

If you do like your lawn so much, maybe getting a spearpoint/bore water
could be an option. Even a tank. Here we have a tank also, but I'm saving
that for emergency garden water.