The experts at TruGreen want you to take pleasure in your garden including the lawn, we want to help you keep your grass looking lush throughout the year. We have developed some handy self help tips to guide you in the right direction when gardening.
How to Mow your Lawn effectively
How to cut grass properly
A beautiful lawn is never arrived at by accident and mowing is one of the key processes by which it can be achieved. The two guiding principles you should follow are mowing height and mowing frequency. Steve Welch, lawn care expert at TruGreen explains why:
Mowing height
A lawn cut at the correct height has more ability to absorb and use nutrients efficiently, will stay greener in adverse conditions, minimise weed germination and have greater resistance to diseases. Weeds and weed grasses can dominate if the lawn is too short as it exposes bare areas of soil allowing for them to take hold. A taller grass length shades the soil and is an excellent weed prevention tool.
Recommended heights of cut
For coarse grass types which are commonly found in family gardens the following rules apply:
- Winter, spring and autumn – 1 ½ inches or 38 mm
- Summer – 1 inch or 25 mm
For fine leaved varieties more common on an ornamental lawn:
- Winter, spring and autumn – ¾ inch or 19 mm
- Summer – ½ inch or 13 mm
Mowing frequency
Lawns grow at different rates depending on the season. During the spring and autumn your lawn produces more grass and your mowing calendar should mirror this. Start regularly mowing around the end of February, after the snow and as the weather becomes more clement. Every 10 days should be fine in the spring and autumn, becoming more regular as growth intensifies. During the winter you can reduce this down to once a month from November to January. Generally you should adopt a little and often approach to your mowing and ensure you sharpen your mower blades at least once a year.
Help! My dog is ruining my lawn!
Prevent
TruGreen advise that prevention is better than cure and would always recommend trying to prevent the dog from urinating in a designated non-grass area. However, if this is not possible then there are a few options available.
- Applying a large quantity of water to the patch immediately may minimize the damage.
- Choose your lawn fertiliser wisely so as to allow for the grass to be strong and healthy which will give the plant the greatest chance of withstanding the stress factor of the dog urinating.
- General good lawn care practice including regular watering and aerating to improve drainage will help.
- If your partner is obliging, encourage them to add “Dog Rocks” to the dog’s water bowl – this is a natural mineral rock, sourced from Australia. It is a proven remedy and TruGreen often recommends it to dog owners.
Repair
If you have a bigger problem, you may want to consider reseeding the area. Think carefully about the type of lawn you want to have – if you want to maintain a beautifully manicured lawn then you need to use fine grass seed such as fescues, but if the dog is to continue to use the lawn you may want to add a hardier type of grass seed, such as perennial ryegrass.
Expert care
If you are unsure about treating the problem yourself then it is often best to call in a lawn care specialist such as TruGreen who will undertake a free in-depth lawn analysis and a deliver the best ongoing treatments and results for your lawn.
To find your nearest lawn care specialist call 0845 201 1187 or find your local TruGreen business for a free quote.
A guide to watering your lawn in the summer
A guide to watering your lawn in the summer
The “Great British Summer” can be unpredictable at best. A week of blistering heat and blue skies can be quickly followed by chilly temperatures and torrential downpours.
Good water usage is vital when it comes to taking care of our lawns to ensure they are healthy and looking at their best. But thanks to the good old British summer, being able to predict and manage the amount of water our lawns get can be a challenge.
TruGreen recommends these top tips to ensure your lawn has just the right amount of water this summer:
- Check your lawn before watering to make sure it does actually need it
- You should water your lawn once or twice a week during the average summer month, but if there has been heavy rainfall you may not need to water at all
- It is recommended that you apply at least half an inch of water at a time, a good tip is to place a plastic container on the lawn so you can see when you have watered enough
- Your soil type will also dictate how often and how much you need to water, for example, sandy soils absorb and lose water quickly whereas clay soil holds water and dries more slowly
- If your lawn undulates or slopes water may also run off or pool so take these factors into consideration too
- Water early in the morning if possible so that the leaf dries during the day, the aim is for the grass to be dry before nightfall. Lawn diseases, fungus, mould and mildew all like moist cool dark conditions. Watering the grass at night will create ideal conditions for them to thrive
- Good irrigation is also really important, dry or brown patches of grass indicate that water is not penetrating to the root zone and you could be wasting water
- It’s also important to save and re-use water where possible. Use water butts to catch the water from your guttering and water plants with water used in the home rather than just pulling the plug on all that valuable water
- To make the most of the water you do use, TruGreen recommend using a wetting agent during the summer months
TruGreen has over 50 specialists nationwide. For more information or to find your nearest expert call 0845 201 1187 or find your local TruGreen business.
Repairing lawns from flooding
Repairing lawns from flooding
Following the recent storm in parts of the UK, TruGreen would recommend that the following repairs may be necessary to your lawn:
Option one – lawns that have been under flood water and associated silt for less than four days will recover quickly. Once the silt has dried the following treatment plan will need to be considered.
- Remove all debris that may have been left on the lawn by the flooding
- The lawn surface will need to be raked to break up the silt crust
- Aeration will be necessary in helping to dry the lawn profile
- After aeration, the lawn will benefit from a light top dressing which should be raked into the lawn surface
- Application of fertiliser will encourage recovery of the grasses
- Over seeding is likely, but should be completed in the spring to allow for good germination.
Option Two – For lawns that have been under flood water for more than four days are likely to require major renovations, especially as they may be covered in a thicker layer of silt which will result in much, if not all of the grass being dead.
- Remove all debris from the lawn
- Remove as much of the silt layer as possible
- All grass vegetation will need to be removed through scarification or by the use of a turf cutter
- Where the lawn levels have been disturbed there will be the need for top soil to be applied
- Cultivate the lawn surface, mixing the top soil with the lawn profile, diluting all remaining silts
- Prepare a level surface through raking in various directions
- If you wish the lawn to be returned to perfect condition before the winter then turf will be the only option at this time of the year
- If the preferred option is for over seeding, this will need to wait until the spring to allow for good germination.
