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Tips & Tricks!
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A healthy lawn makes a home look its very best, and maintaining a beautiful patch of grass isn’t as hard as most people believe. As well as looking great, a lawn can increase the value of your home and has benefits for the local environment.
Rising land prices mean that modern homes are being designed and built with smaller gardens and outside space, but even a small lawn can add to a home’s appeal. It’s simply a case of making the most of what you have available. Maintaining a healthy lawn takes a little work, but the effort is well worth it.
The following tips are the foundations of a growing a perfect lawn.
1. Watering - Experienced gardeners and lawn care experts will tell you this is the starting point for a beautiful lawn. If you water too often, grass has no need to grow a deep root system. Shallow roots can’t reach nutrients deep in the soil, and they aren’t long enough to reach underground water in dry spells. The golden rule is to water deeply, and not too often. The type of soil a lawn is based on will determine the exact, watering required. Use a spade to check the depth of water penetration and aim for at least ten to fifteen centimeters.
Lawns should ideally be watered in the morning, and never at night. If you water grass at night, the water can sit on the surface and encourage fungal diseases. Photosynthesis can’t take place at night, and much of the water applied to a lawn during darkness will simply be wasted.
2. Feeding - Grass feeds naturally from nutrients in the soil, but it’s generally necessary to supplement this with fertilizers. The best time to feed a lawn is usually in its active growing season, but the roots still soak up nutrients in cooler months.
Take some expert advice if you aren’t sure about the best type of fertilizer for your lawn, as it depends on a number of factors. Grass can overdose on fertilizer if you use too much, so make sure you read the instructions carefully. If your grass turns yellow and shows signs of poor health, it may be a sign of over feeding.
3. Weeding - It’s virtually impossible to eliminate all signs of weeds from a lawn, but with careful management you can keep them under control. The best way to keep weeds under control is to remove them as soon as they appear. Removal by hand can be hard work, but you will be rewarded with a near perfect lawn if you make the effort to do this. Simple garden tools are also effective for weed removal.
If you prefer to use herbicides to keep weeds under control, apply them when the weather is warm and dry. Herbicides are absorbed via the leaves of a weed, and this process doesn’t work during cooler periods when they stop growing. Rain can wash herbicides away before they have time to take effect.
4. Cutting - Cutting a lawn keeps it looking neat and tidy and promotes growth of new grass, which is important for the overall health and appearance. Long grass is a good environment for weeds to develop and grow, so keeping it short means less wedding work. Grass cuttings should be left on the surface of the lawn, as they provide rich nutrients to promote further growth.
Growing and maintaining a healthy lawn doesn’t take years of experience, it’s really about following a simple routine.
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