Lawn care tips and advice from the experts at TruGreen.
What's the secret to growing lush, healthy green turf?
Unfortunately, according to the lawn care professionals at TruGreen there is no quick fix when it comes to getting a lush lawn. If you really want a lawn that will be the envy of your neighbours then you need to give it the proper care and maintenance and have a lot of patience as it won’t happen overnight. Simply put, it's all about getting the balance right - your lawn is a living thing, and like all living things it needs food, water and the right environment. There are other factors such as ensuring good drainage and mowing the lawn correctly which will really make a difference.
How regularly should the lawn be watered? Is it enough to rely on rainfall to do the job?
During the summer months there is often less natural rainfall than your lawn needs to stay healthy and looking at its best. The average lawn needs around 1 inch of water a week, so you will need to water your lawn when the rainfall doesn’t meet this need. Each lawn is different and the amount of water needed will vary according to soil type and the landscape, for example a flat lawn with clay based soil will need much less water than a lawn that undulates and slopes with a sandy-based soil.
What's the best way to keep lawns disease-free?
According to TruGreen, lawn diseases are almost always a fungus. There are lots of things you can do to make it harder for fungal diseases to take hold:
- Most fungal diseases use the moisture on the leaves of grass plants to produce and move spores. Avoid watering just before dark as water will remain on the leaf blades longer at night;
- Raise your mow height, cutting your grass extremely short will leave it susceptible to lawn diseases;
- Keep you mower blades sharpened, blunt or dull mower blade will shred the tops of the grass leaves and expose tissue for lawn diseases to enter the plants more easily;
- Lawn diseases can be specific to certain varieties of grass and in certain circumstances introducing other varieties of grass into your lawn may help;
- Increase light, air access and movement over the grass by pruning overhanging trees and shrubs, will all help reduce incidences of turf disease;
- Lawn aeration also helps produce healthy grass;
- In severe cases, apply a professional fungicide to control the most damaging lawn diseases.
How regularly should a lawn be mowed?
Proper mowing is really important when it comes to lawn care. Your grass should be at least 1½ inches after mowing as this will result in a healthier and stronger lawn. Mowing frequently around every ten days should be fine during the summer, but never remove more than one third of the total blade height in a single mowing.
TruGreen’s technical expert Andy White suggests: “At the moment (early summer) our lawns are growing faster than at any other time of the year and the grass plant naturally puts all its energy in to growing taller. So for the next few weeks try mowing your lawn as often as you can, around twice a week if possible, but keep the height around 1½ to 2 inches. This will train your grass to put its energy into producing a thicker, stronger grass plant, rather than just growing taller.”
Do brown patches mean a lawn is too dry?
Dry or brown patches of grass can indicate that the lawn is too dry; the water may not be penetrating to the root. It may be that the lawn is compacted or hardened, this can happen as a result of lots of use such as mowing or walking on the lawn and aeration could be the answer. This is something that you could do yourself or ask a professional to undertake for you.
Brown patches could also indicate a brown patch disease which can attack a variety of grasses and will normally appear between spring and autumn. Brown patch diseases are capable of destroying large areas of turf dependent on the weather.
Should lawn care adapt to the different seasons/weather conditions?
You should always tailor your lawn care to suit the time of year. The lawn will grow at varying rates throughout the year and you need to respond to changes in conditions. Water more or less depending on the rainfall and only mow the lawn when the grass is long enough to do so, without leaving it too short. There are also times of the year when your lawn will need more fertiliser than others such as in the autumn, to develop a strong plant that will survive the stresses of winter.
Where lawns have been ruined by dogs, how would one encourage re-growth?
Dogs, especially female dogs, can leave circular patches that have a dark green ring of lush grass surrounding each brown (dead) centre where they urinate. Little can be done to prevent or cure this situation. If you are around when your dog urinates on the lawn, pour large quantities of water on the area. But even this may not stop the damage to the grass plants. Lawn repairs may be necessary in severe cases.
What's a wetting agent and when would one use one?
Wetting agents are basically a product that can by applied to the lawn to encourage water to be soaked up by the soil rather than just sit as a droplet on the surface. Many professional lawns, such as managers of croquet and bowling greens, use wetting agents. The product TruGreen use can reduce the amount of water needed by around 75% on clay soils or by around 50% on sandy soils. If your lawn has suffered as a result of a hot summer a wetting agent will help make the most of the water you apply.
How can one control weeds and prevent them from sprouting up?
Even the best kept lawn will be susceptible to weeds. Weed seeds can be blown in by the wind, dropped by birds or animals or brought in on the soles of shoes. The best thing you can do is keep your lawn as healthy as possible to encourage a thick grass plant and give the weeds less chance of coming through in the first place. Mowing the lawn to the correct height will also help, as the grass blades shade the soil from the warmth of the sun and prevent the seeds from germinating.
What can I do to prepare my lawn so it won’t look like a jungle after my holiday?
Andrew White, technical expert at TruGreen says “Early summer is the perfect time to take control of the growth of your grass. At TruGreen we recommend applying a ‘growth regulator’ to your lawn. A growth regulator can reduce the need to mow by up to 50% and an application will last for around four to six weeks depending on the lawn and can have huge benefits for the grass plant. A growth regulator will reduce the top growth of the grass which will in turn encourage the plant to put its energy into developing its root structure. As the roots grown further down the plant will be able to absorb more water and will need less watering. The growth regulator will also encourage the grass plant to produce more leaves giving a thicker coverage and improving the appearance of the lawn.”
“It’s a great treatment especially if you are planning on an extended holiday over the summer, as you can go away, knowing that you won’t come back to a jungle.”
