At Ben's Place
Aerial view of a suburban front lawn with a moustache mown into it

Perth, Western Australia

Just a dad doing backyard things.

Lawns, DIY and whatever else I have talked myself into this month. Everything I use is here, and most of it is free.

Free. No sign up. Nothing locked behind a subscription.

Not an app person? Use the calculators instead.

The lawn app

Feed less. Mow less.

Bag rates are generous, and following them usually means overfeeding. That does not get you a better lawn, it gets you a faster one: more mowing, more clippings, more thatch, and a dethatch you did not need. This works out what your grass can actually use in a year and splits it across your feeds, so you buy less and mow less.

  • Works out every dose for your lawn, from its size and grass type
  • Turns label rates into what actually goes in your sprayer, not litres per hectare
  • Counts the nitrogen you have used this year, so you cannot overfeed
  • Tells you what is due and when, across as many lawns as you like
  • Keeps a product library, a spray log and what it all cost
  • Monthly tips written for Perth, including the winter sprinkler ban
  • No account, no Pro tier, works offline, and your data stays on your phone

Every feature is free. There is no paid tier to unlock, nothing is held back, and it never asks you for an account before it will save your work.

It does light mode too

A lawn's nitrogen budget for the year, and the next fertiliser dose worked out at 2.8 kilograms of PURPLE
The budget, and how much to put down
The Due Now screen listing eight products due across a front and back lawn
Everything that needs doing
A spend report showing 235 dollars across 33 applications, split by fertiliser, weed control and soil amendments
What it actually costs

The guide

Some Random Dad's Guide To Lawn Care

The whole thing written down in order, for people who would rather read it once than work it out from short videos. What to do, when to do it, and why.

Paid. The app and the calculators stay free either way.

What I use

The answer to the question I get most.

Nobody pays me to say any of this. It is just what is in my shed. Fertiliser changes with the season, so I have left that off, it is in the app instead.

Cox Professional 21 inch
Cylinder mower, eight blade. Kikuyu cut at about 20mm.
Ryobi 18V edger
Edges. Same battery family as everything else, which is most of the reason.
Ryobi 36V line trimmer
Around the beds and the bits the mower cannot reach.