Lawn Care Advice
Please select an option from the tasks below. If you need any further help here then please contact us. Mowing
Start mowing when the roots have anchored the turf to the soil. This is generally after 1-2 weeks in the summer, and 2-3 weeks at other times. Do not cut the grass too short. It is very important to reduce the height of the grass slowly over the first few weeks. If you mow it short straight away, it will shock the grass and may cause permanent damage. Set the mower at its highest setting for the first cut, and then gradually reduce the height over the next few weeks. The general rule is never to cut more than one third of the leaf at any one time. Never mow lower than 15mm.
Generally speaking, the more you mow your lawn, the better it will be. In the spring, when the grass is growing most strongly, you should be mowing your lawn at least once a week. If you mow it only once every two or three weeks the lawn will begin to look sparse and the colour will become uneven. Frequent, regular mowing stimulates the production of shoots (called tillers) at the base of the plant, and helps to produce a dense, high quality lawn. Top
Feeding
There's a bewildering choice of lawn food around today! But don't worry, we'll make the subject easier for you, and help you select the most suitable ones to use.
Do lawns need feeding?
The simple answer is, Yes! If you don't feed your lawn it will slowly get weaker, allowing moss, weed grasses and broad-leaved weeds to invade. The grass plant is no different from any other plant in needing three basic elements to thrive: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium (known as N P and K). These elements are present in lawn food.
When you see a figure like 27:5:5 on a fertiliser pack, it refers to the percentage of nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in the feed. In this case, you are getting 27% nitrogen, 5% phosphorous, and 5% potassium. This is called the fertiliser analysis. Feed your lawn each spring with a lawn feed rich in nitrogen at the recommended rate. The latest technology in fertilisers means that one application will last nine months! Alternatively, if you prefer the organic approach, there are some excellent organic fertilisers which provide gentle feeding for your lawn. An application of lawn feed in September is a good idea to help the lawn through the winter. Choose a pre-winter feed with extra potassium to help protect your lawn against disease. If the lawn needs scarifying in the autumn apply the lawn feed afterwards, not before. Click here for more information about lawn feed programmes. It is well worth buying a good fertiliser spreader - one that spins the lawn feed on, rather than one that drops it out through the bottom. This ensures that the lawn feed is applied evenly. Top
Weed Control
Tillers Turf arrives completely free of weeds. A dense, healthy lawn will make it difficult for weeds to encroach, so regular maintenance will go a long way to keeping it weed free. Hand weeding will deal with small numbers of weeds, and ensure that the numbers do not build up. If a herbicide becomes necessary, use a proprietary weedkiller at the recommended rate. Top
Moss Control
The best defence against moss is to keep your lawn strong and healthy. Weak grass growth can be caused by a number of factors: waterlogging, shade, mowing too short, too little fertiliser, drought. Try to correct the cause of the problem. However, moss will tend to creep into even the best lawns, and so to keep it at bay, apply a mosskiller once a year. Remember that once moss is well established in a lawn it is much more difficult to eradicate. Preventative applications of mosskiller every spring or autumn from the start is a better strategy. Moss killer applied as a liquid will work better than granular products. This can be applied through a watering can or a sprayer.
Word of warning - the iron sulphate in some granular mosskillers can cause staining of paving, so be careful to brush off any granular mosskiller that lands on it. Top
Disease Control
Diseases will rarely trouble a well-maintained lawn. Only use fungicides as a last resort. However, one disease that appears to be more prevalent now is Fusarium patch. This is probably due to milder winters. The disease occurs during periods of still, misty weather when the temperature is between 0 and 10 degrees C. You can identify it by the cotton wool-like growth in the centre of the patch. The disease spreads through the water film on the grass leaf. One of the best ways of discouraging the disease is to use a slow release fertiliser in the early autumn to ensure that the grass is not too lush going into the winter. Another way of reducing the chance of getting Fusarium is to brush the lawns in the morning to remove the dew. This is known as switching, and is a daily job for golf greenkeepers up and down the country during the autumn and winter months.
In the first year after your lawn has been laid, you may see small brown toadstools appearing. Do not worry about this - they are harmless to children and pets, and they will not damage your lawn. They will die out in a short time. See the section on toadstools under FAQs. Top
Pest Control
Milder winters are bad news for lawn owners. Take leatherjackets for example. We have seen a dramatic rise in numbers of this pest over the last few years, and we think it is due to more of them surviving the winter. The best time to control them is when they are small i.e. late August / early September. We recommend using Leatherjacket Killer, containing nematodes. Nematodes are a very effective biological control when used at the correct time. They are less effective when used in the spring when the leatherjackets are much bigger and tougher. Late summer is also the best time to use Chafer Grub Killer for chafer grubs. Parasitic nematodes kill their hosts through the cooperation of symbiotic bacteria. This bacteria cannot survive in soil and water and so the nematode provides protection while outside the host. The nematode transports this bacteria into the host. The nematode is not capable of killing the host on its own and cannot reproduce without the the nutrients from the bacteria. The nematode enters the host through natural openings. Once inside it releases the bacteria which multiply and kill the host within 24-48 hours. The bacteria digests the inner contents of the grub and essentially liquify it. The nematodes then consume the liquified contets of the dying host. Once fed, the nematodes multiply and exit from their host. Top Aeration
Grass roots need air in order to support healthy growth. In a well-structured soil, there are lots of natural air pockets. During wet weather the soil becomes soft, and if the lawn is used heavily the soil structure is damaged, the air pockets are destroyed, and grass growth suffers. Aeration is a means of getting air back into the soil by punching holes into the lawn to a depth of about 100mm. All lawns benefit from aeration at some stage, with heavily used lawns needing treatment more often. It is possible to aerate small areas with a garden fork, but it is very hard work! You may be able to hire a mechanical aerator, but it is quite expensive each time you hire it. A third option is to buy a roller spiker, which makes the job very easy, and means you can go out and aerate your lawn any time you want. For badly compacted areas of the lawn you may have to use a lawn corer, which takes plugs of soil out of the lawn. This allows more air into the soil. To keep the holes open it is good practice to brush compost or lawn dressing into them. Top
Scarification
Some species of grass produce more horizontal growth than others, and this can build up to a point where it needs to be removed to allow healthy growth. Scarifying is really a pruning process, and is done using vertical blades that cut into the top of the turf mat.
The frequency of scarifying necessary depends upon the type of turf, and the maintenance regime. For example, a turf containing ryegrass needs very little, if any, scarifying because of the tufted growth characteristic of the ryegrass. A turf containing no ryegrass is likely to need scarifying at least very two years because of the lateral growth of bents, fescues, and smoothstalked meadowgrass. In addition, if the turf is regularly fertilised and watered, the growth rate will increase, resulting in a faster build-up of the turf mat. In this situation, lawns will benefit from scarifying every year, preferably during the early autumn. Top
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