Basics, But Better: Tip #1 Perfecting the Simple Stuff
Spring is here, get your lawn in gear. We’ve enjoyed the winter break, but warmer weather and longer days, is just calling for you to get out in the garden! What’s that we hear you say, you want to enjoy your garden and not have to spend hours and hours each weekend caring for it. For those of you who may not be a lawn fanatic, here are just four things that will make a difference and help you enjoy the happy place that is your lawn.
Let’s Mow
Mowing your lawn is about more than just keeping it looking tidy. Mowing encourages lateral growth, which is what makes your lawn look nice and thick. A lush lawn that you and your family can enjoy. Mowing also saves your lawn from being susceptible to diseases and pest that love hiding out in longer grass! Whilst some of us enjoy the task more than others, if we need to do it, let’s do it right!
Mowing the right way:
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Keep a regular schedule: Make sure you’re mowing regularly to keep your lawn healthy. Being Spring, it will depend on the rain, but every 2-3 weeks will keep the lawn growing healthy ensuring every part of your lawn is receiving similar amounts of light and nutrients.
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Check your watch: Mow at the optimal time – mid-morning is best.
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Pick your length: Never cut more than one third of the grass’s length in any one mowing session. This spring may be warmer than usual, so by not cutting your lawn too short, it will help shade the shoots and help keep moisture in. Adjust your mower’s height to cut to your desired length.
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Sharpen your blades: Make sure your mower blades are sharp for the best cut.
Remember to stay safe by clearing your lawn (large rocks, sticks, kids’ toys and pet waste from the lawn), Wear goggles, closed-toe shoes, earmuffs and gloves. Your mower can flick stones and debris into the air. Make sure kids and pets are inside.
If you want a polished look, you’ll need to learn how to trim grass edges. Edging defines boundaries, highlights your hard work, and turns a “ho-hum” lawn into a “woah” lawn. Time to get out the whipper snipper! Rotate the head so the nylon string inside is vertical to the edge and run it along the edge for a sharp line. If grass has grown over paths, use a sharp knife to cut the turf and pull it away from the path.
Let’s Water
Often, rainfall will be enough to give your lawn the moisture it needs during early Spring, but this season Australian is expecting particularly warmer weather. Most of us with Buffalo, Kikuyu, Couch or Zoysia type grasses might want to start a weekly to fortnightly water. You can keep on eye on your lawn with a quick test. If your footstep leaves a noticeable indent in the lawn, it needs watering.
If this spring is going to be warmer than usual, you want to ensure your lawn develops strong deep roots to make it more drought tolerant. A deep 20-30 min water will help avoid a yellowing or discoloured lawn. Watering frequently but lightly promotes shallow roots that can more easily get stressed by heat and drought.
This spring you might want to use a wetting agent. A wetting agent, like Scotts Lawn Builder + Wetting Agent helps your lawn absorb moisture deep into the root system, rather than letting water pool on top of your lawn. As a bonus, the combined lawn builder and wetting agent includes fertiliser to help keep your lawn well-fed too.
Follow these step-by-step instructions to watering your lawn to keep it looking fresh.
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Water your lawn before 10am, while it is cooler in the day.
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Water for 20 to 30 minutes. You want to water your grass so your soil is wet to a depth of 150mm.
Let’s Fertilise
It’s Spring time, and for those that do already fertilise their lawn, Spring is the most common time to do so.
But if you’re new to this, why spring? There are obvious advantages to a well-fed lawn, such as lush green growth and feeling great underfoot, but you’ll also be deterring weed growth, and more importantly building a stronger lawn to survive the summer.
There’s a very old saying – an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure – and nothing could be more spot-on when it comes to feeding your lawn this Spring.
Lawn Builder fertilisers contain the right balance of nutrients to build a strong, healthy lawn. The nitrogen, N, gets those leaves growing well but remember that P, the potassium? It helps the lawn take up the nitrogen and, importantly, it builds stronger cells. When your lawn has quality growth support from a robust cellular structure, it will be better suited to survive hot and dry or cold conditions and recover quickly from any damage
We might be a little biased, but we reckon Scotts Lawn Builder is one of the best fertilisers out there. Why? Scotts Lawn Builder Granular varieties are advanced, modern, slow-release formulations that are designed to deliver all the nutrients your lawn needs while reducing wastage and the risks of runoff. Lawn Builder granular fertilisers use patented time-released technology to slowly release nutrients over as long as 3-months. They are high in nitrogen, but it is in a unique slow-release form, so you get the benefits of quality greening without weak, unhealthy surge growth. They are also fortified with iron to provide a deeper green and stronger, healthier growth.
Unlike other fertilisers, there’s no risk of it burning your lawn, so it doesn’t need to be watered on application. That being said, it needs water to work, so if there’s no rain in the forecast, water your lawn after application to start the greening process. It’s also child and pet-friendly so you can use your lawn immediately after application.
Let’s Weed
Spring is the time to attack those weeds! Weeds will take over wherever there’s an opportunity – meaning if weeds see a gap, they jump in to fill it – so remove weeds and feed your lawn. A full lawn will not give weeds the opportunity to establish and if any weed seeds do germinate the grass will often out competent them, shading them out. A win win situation, no weeds and a thick and lush lawn.
Now you could spend a few hours or even days, picking out those weeds by hand, thinking great you’ve got rid of them. But wait, did you get the roots out? Are you sure no weed seeds dropped? Great if you did, but if not, just wait, those weeds will be back in no time.
One of the most convenient solutions to weed control and prevention is Scotts Lawn Builder Weed, Feed & Green Up. It targets the broadleaf weeds in your lawn but not the grasses. It burns off the weed leaves, then tackles the roots. That’s when the weeds eventually die out.
As the name suggests, this product also has feed and green up offering complete nutrition for lawns resulting in fast greening and improved vigour within days of application. But I bet your thinking, aren’t I feeding the weeds too? The answer is yes but no. See some of the nutrients actually help the herbicide kill just the weed. Confusing we know, but an easy way to get two jobs done at the same time. Killing weeds and feeding your lawn.
One watch out though is to make sure you use the right product for your grass type. If you are in any doubt as to what your lawn is, then use our Lawn Builder BUFFALO Weed, Feed & Green Up which can be applied to a broader range of grasses.
