Ten top tips to get ready for spring
If you haven’t begun preparing for the warmer months, now is the time to start.
Giving your lawn a little extra TLC leading into Spring and Summer means you will reap the benefits of lush green grass throughout the entire warm season.
- Do a good scan of the yard and remove any sticks. Rake up any leftover autumn leaves so that the lawn is receiving maximum sunlight and oxygen.
- It is a good idea to make sure all of your lawn care equipment is in good working order. Check that your mower blades are sharp and that all of your
equipment is serviced with fresh spark plugs, new oil, clean air filters and fresh fuel. If you look after your equipment, they should give you
years of service. - Aerating lawn will reduce soil compaction and increase air circulation. A well aerated lawn will become more efficient in absorbing rain and irrigation
water instead of it just running off the surface. - Testing a lawns pH levels will establish how acidic or alkaline the soil is. This will help you to determine the condition of the soil, and what it
may require to nourish and sustain a healthy lawn. Purchase a pH kit from your local garden or hardware store. Speak to your local nursery or garden
suppliers to find out the recommended pH levels and fertiliser types for the area. - If the lawn is suffering from any dead patches or is a bit sparse in some areas, this is the perfect time to sow some new seed for spring. Remove dead
grass and fill with loose soil, then sow the seed. Make sure you use the same seed as the rest of the lawn. If you’re not sure of the lawn type,
cut out a few pieces and take it down to your local garden store, they should be able to help you identify the grass type. - You’ll probably find that coming into the warmer months that lawns may get a bit patchy and grow better in some spots than others. Until spring really
starts to kick in, keep the cutting height high and begin evening the length out. Make sure that you don’t cut the lawn more than one third of
its height, as this may expose it to disease and the lingering weather extremes of winter. - Grass clippings are a form of organic fertiliser and a great way to keep a lawn healthy. By using a mulching mower and returning the grass clippings
to the lawn you are essentially retuning 15% more nutrients back into the soil just by mowing! - The key to a strong healthy lawn in Summer is a deep root system, plus good lawn care practices. To create a deep lawn root system, the grass roots
of the lawn need to be trained to search deeper for water. This is done by reducing the time between watering, and increasing the duration that
you irrigate. Watering infrequently forces the lawn to search deeper into the soil for its water supply with its root system – and the increased
watering durations allows the water to soak deep into the soil for the root systems to seek out. - There is nothing worse than a patchy lawn that is riddled with bindii’s in the peak of the backyard cricket and barefoot bowls season. Use a Bindii
and Broad Leaf herbicide and apply directly to the weeds in your yard. - Grass grows fastest, and is at its healthiest, in the warmer months so decreasing the cutting height down to 2.5cm won’t affect it too much. During
cooler months, grass grows much slower so it’s a good idea to raise the cutting height a little so as not to damage it. As a general rule, it’s
wise not to cut your grass lower than 2.5cm. The big risk of mowing low is ‘scalping’ which browns the grass. Scalp the lawn repeatedly and you
risk weakening it, allowing more weeds and diseases to take hold.
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340 total views, 1 today
