How to look after your lawn
Getting a beautiful, thick and rich lawn can be a long process, and it requires lots of patience. Though, with the beautiful results possible, it can be a very rewarding pursuit. There are a range of procedures you can carry out to give your lawn the best possible conditions for growing into a beautiful, rich lawn.
We are here to help you achieve this goal of perfection.
Lawn Mowing
Mowing the lawn is the most important process in lawn care, to achieve the perfect lawn. Lawn mowing it is the foundation for everything you do afterwards. If you do this well, you are well on your way to achieving a healthy, rich and beautiful looking lawn! Incorrect lawn mowing practices are the easiest way to ruin a lawn. It is therefore important to invest in a quality lawn mower, with adjustable blade height and a large box for collecting the cuttings. Our Rotary Mowers are professional lawn mowers - they are high quality pieces of gardening equipment, designed to perform to the highest standards.
Before mowing your lawn, you should clear the lawn of all obstacles, toys, and the washing line! Also, remove any leaves with a leaf blower or a rake.
Set the lawn mower to a higher cut setting and mow the lawn in straight lines, overlapping slightly on each pass with the line that you have already mowed. Then reduce the cutting height of the blades and mow again. Repeat this process until you get the cut that you want. It is best not to go straight to a short cut, as this will shock the grass and it will not give you the perfect lawn finish. It is advisable not to go below 3/4”, to avoid scalping the lawn. In the height of growing season (late spring - summer) you should cut your lawn once a week.
When mowing slopes in your garden, mow across the slope rather than up and down. Finally, tidy up any borders with a pair of long handled lawn edging shears.
For the best results every time, ensure that you clean the mowers blades after each use to ensure a consistent high quality cut (Though make sure the mower is not switched on whilst doing this!) Also, if you own your own lawn mower, ensure that you change your lawn mowers blades every year, as the blades will become blunt over time.
You should wear appropriate footwear whilst using a lawn mower, and always turn off and unplug a mower before you attempt to adjust the height or change the blades. If you are using an electric mower, take care not to mow over the power cable.
Scarifying the Lawn
Scarifying your lawn removes thatch (organic matter like twigs, leaves and weeds etc.) This effectively removes any unwanted matter, leaving space for you to grow fresh grass, so your lawn will be rejuvenated with thick grass growth. Lawn scarifiers come in all shapes and sizes. For a small garden, an electric scarifier would suffice. For a larger lawn (and for the best results) a petrol scarifier is ideal. Lawn scarifiers house a series of fine blades which turn along the grass as you walk, teasing out the thatch and helping to prune the grass. Whilst using a scarifier, you should follow the lines you set when mowing the lawn.
Scarifying a lawn can make it look quite bare - especially if it has been overrun with moss and other thatch. Do not worry. Think of scarifying as stripping back your lawn to leave just the grass, and then you can build from that to create a beautiful, rich lawn.
It is important to scarify only during ideal weather conditions – when there is sunshine, warmth and a some rain. If you scarify when there has been heavy rain, or extreme conditions like a drought, you will do more damage than good, as the grass will not be able to grow back for a long time after you have scarified it.
Aerating the Lawn
If your soil is compacted, you will have problems with drainage, and the grass roots in your lawn will be starved of key nutrients and air to flourish. Problems with drainage can also lead to moss in your lawn, as it thrives in the damp conditions. So aeration is another an extremely important element of lawn care.
Using a hollow tine aerator on your lawn, you can decompact the soil to imrpove drainage and allow nutrients to get into the soil and feed the grass roots. Using an aerator is a similar process to scarifying - just walk along with the machine, following the lines you made whilst lawn mowing. As you walk along, the aerator's tines punch tiny holes into the lawn to improve drainage and help healthier grass growth.
Overseeding your lawn
Overseeding your lawn involves scattering new grass seed over your lawn, in order to fill gaps and promote thicker grass growth. This is key after you've scarified and aerated your lawn. As scarifying can often scalp your lawn if it has been in a particularly bad state, so the overseeding helps to fill the gaps where there was once thatch, with new healthy grass.
As the seed takes to the lawn and starts to grow, you will quickly notice the difference in your lawn. Where there was once thatch, weeds and moss, there will be healthy green grass. And, as you aerated your lawn to improve drainage and allow nutrients into the soil, the new grass will flourish.
Further lawn care tips
Once you have a healthy, rich and full lawn, remember to keep mowing regularly. 'Little but often' is the key - taking a little amount from the top of the grass regularly, during the height of growing season.
You can also use a garden roller on your lawn to give it a professional looking finish by smoothing down the lawn surface. This should all be done following the lines that you made when you mowed the lawn.
Be Patient...
The key is patience. Don't overload the lawn with blades and machinery all at once, and don't rush into following these lawn care practices if the weather conditions are not right. You must not complete this process in one afternoon - it would cause more damage than good. You must carry out these lawn care practices carefully and regularly, over a period of months, to achieve the perfect, professional looking lawn each year.
Safety!
Make sure you read the manuals for the machines and equipment mentioned in this post thoroughly before using them. Wear appropriate clothing and gloves, especially when dealing with blades. Do not try to service a machine whilst it is still plugged in or switched on.
What next?
Take a look at our range of garden tool hire. You can book a hire online using our booking system or over the phone with our hire team!
