ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
A Betoota Heights homeowner has become the first person in recorded history to successfully kill Kikuyu, prompting a visit from the nation’s top lawncare and gardening minds.
Russell Boing (63) of Rivendell Terrace purchased the three-bedroom volume build dogbox just shy on a decade ago and freely admits to The Advocate that the previous owner said he put Kikuyu in for the sole reason that it was almost maintenance free.
However, Russell said he may have taken that too literally.
“Never in my life have I put the hose on this lawn,” he said.
“I mow it with a third-hand mower. Never sharpened the blades. Don’t catch anything, either. It’s just cut and dumped on top. Walking over it in the winter was like walking over a dry dish sponge. When it rained, it was like a wet one,”
“This mower of mine, the muffler or something as fallen off and it’s louder than a Bren gun. Honestly, it sounds like I’m mowing down a platoon of Gerry’s on the outskirts of Caen! Bang! Bang! Bang! Along with a big puff of white smoke shooting out each time. Needless to say, it’s a chore for me and a chore for the neighbourhood,”
“But somehow, the Kikuyu has lived on.”
That was until this week when the wider Diamantina area received over 40mm of rain, the first downpour in over three months for most of our town.
Lawns from Betoota Heights to the Grove Common began to spring back to life. A green hue could be seen for the first time in months.
Except for Mr Boing’s lawn, which has remained a deathly shade of brown.
Darcy Carter from the Queensland Lawncare Guild said he had to see it with his own eyes, prompting him to make the trip out from Noosaville this morning.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen this happen. I’ve called around to my contemporaries around the country and none of them can recall ever seeing dead Kikuyu. It’s truely astounding to see it,” he said.
“Credit to him.”
More to come.
