Lazy Man’s Lawn Care Guide

You probably have neither the time nor inclination to maintain a lawn that looks like a putting green, but having said that, if you’ve got grass then you want it to look nice. Your Lawn is a plant just like any other perennial in your garden, and so it needs a bit of care and attention to be able to grow and thrive and show itself off to your neighbours!

Lawn Care means regular mowing through the season, and regular accurate application of a good Lawn Fertilizer. Commence mowing in late spring when you can see new growth. Set the cut between 1.5 – 2,5cm high. Mow once or twice a week depending on the speed of growth. As growth slows during autumn, cut less often and rarely in winter, and never when it’s frosty.

There are a multitude of Lawn Care products on the market for “Feeding” or “Weeding”. Most are in pellet form and if you don’t apply it evenly you will get varying colour and growth. You must apply these pellet fertilizers just before it rains as there’s a risk that you’re grass may ‘burn’ as the pellets resting on the leaves scorch the foliage if the sun is strong.

To avoid this risk you should use a Quality Lawn Fertilizer. You should start feeding your lawn at 4 to 6 week intervals beginning in March through to October. Use Superspray type Garden Sprayers to apply the Lawn Fertilizer to your lawn. Connected to your hose pipe, this sprayer dilutes the concentrated Lawn Fertilizer as you spray. It’s much easier to get a more even feed with less effort, it’s not as time consuming and there’s no risk of scorching either. It’s better if you feed either early morning or late evening to minimise evaporation.

When it comes to weeding you’ll find that regular clipping coupled with regular accurate application of a Quality Lawn Fertilizer will discourage or even get rid of most of the moss algae and weeds that begin to take over when your lawn is undernourished.

When you look at your lawn the most obvious weeds are the larger flat leaved ones like Dandelion, plantains and so on. Cutting & Feeding your grass will in the end get rid of these, but if you can’t wait; you can just cut these out with a long blade knife but you’re then left with a small bare patch that if not grassed will become home to another weed.

Here’s a useful trick for you! Next time you’re in the Garden Centre, look out for the pot carrying trays which the plants are standing in. Garden Centres usually throw these trays away and so can be “free” for the asking. Look for one with the circles about 8cm across. Fill these with seed compost and sow grass seed in each circle. Very soon you’ll have a little disc of grass ideal for making an instant repair after removing the offending weed. The turfs can last as long as you want them to; just keep cutting with scissors.