Hi Gardeners and Welcome to Spring!
It was nice to see a little bit of rain recently but much more is required to keep our gardens looking good. This month I thought I would touch on the subject of Lawns - the pride and joy of most men.
A poem by Rudyard Kipling identifies with our love of gardening:
Our England is a garden that is full of stately views,
Of borders, beds and shrubberies and lawns and avenues,
With statues on the terraces and peacocks strutting by;
But the Glory of the Garden lies in more than meets the eye.
LAWNS
To maintain a good lawn it needs regular fertilizing, watering and mowing. The end of August - beginning of September is a good time to start preparations for a lawn that will bring value to your property. Your lawn should have a dressing of Lime or Dolomite every two years. Ten days after this, Top Dress when the grass is growing vigorously enough to push through the soil layer quickly, then apply another top dressing in January or February. If the lawn is well cared-for Top Dressing usually is not required. Then every eight weeks from October through to April lawn fertilizer is applied. ALWAYS water your lawn before applying fertilizer and water thoroughly immediately afterwards.
With the sandy soil here, using a Wetting Agent every year or so is a good idea to help retain moisture.
During the hot Summer months it’s important to give your lawn a good deep watering at least two to three times a week. Sprinklers are good for this. In Winter once a week is fine. If you don’t water deeply enough the roots stay on the surface and then in hot dry conditions the roots are not deep enough to find water and the lawn will brown off.
When mowing, the lawn should not be cut too short. Weed seed can be carried to your lawn by birds, the wind and even on your shoes. Despite your best efforts weeds do appear and it may be necessary to use a chemical weedkiller. Read the instructions carefully. Do not spray in wet weather and do not mow for three to four days before and after spraying.
Lawn grubs have been the bane of our existence for the last couple of years and Grubkill sprays and granules are available to treat the pest. You can test to see if that brown patch is Lawn Grub; fill a bucket with water, add some dishwashing liquid, pour over your grass then top with a moist hessian bag or towel. In the morning the grubs should have risen to the surface. Also look for moth eggs on your leaves (brown patches). Leaving a bug zapper on a night helps to control the moths.
Sometimes those brown patches in the lawn can be a fungus or Dollar Spot. During Winter fungus spots may appear in the lawn. Dollar spot is also a lawn problem - you‘ll see a spider-web-like circle on your lawn early in the morning. You can hose the area but usually you’re left with small brown circles. Fungicide sprays like Mancozeb can be used to control these problems.
When laying a new lawn, you need to place a fertilizer and water crystals down before laying the turf. An excellent product for this is called Launcher. The new roots of the laid turf take seven to fourteen days to penetrate the soil. It is important during this time that the turf does not dry out, and spraying with a half-strength liquid fertilizer will encourage fast growth. Try to minimise foot traffic through the area and top dress any depressions after a period of two to three weeks.
When testing to see if the turf has caught, try lifting, if it comes up in your hands it hasn’t caught, if it stays the grass has established and is ready for mowing. Fertilizing can commence with a complete lawn fertilizer in eight weeks.
To summarise, when preparing your lawn:
Dolomite or Lime and before use, if necessary, apply a wetting agent first then a couple of hours later apply the dolomite or lime
10 days later, lawn fertilizer
Then fertilize every eight weeks till about April
Happy lawns and happy gardening,
Jill
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