lawn Tagged Articles - Primrose Blog

Gardening, Gardening Year, Guest Posts, How To

5 Tips to Ensure a Green, Weedless Lawn for Spring

We all would love a green, pristine lawn in the warmer months, but weeds and patchiness always seem to get in the way. The key to a great lawn, however, starts long before the spring. It takes preparation and using the winter months to your advantage can really aid your goal of having a lawn to be proud of. There are a few steps that you can take in the winter to get your lawn ready to grow this spring.

Fertilizing

People are generally more prepared to fertilize their flowering plants than their grass, but your lawn can always use extra nutrients as well. This task can be done either in the late fall or the early winter. Fertilizing should be done before the first big freeze or when frost becomes apparent. As most weeds die during the winter months, fertilizing allows your grass the opportunity to absorb nutrients unopposed. And as it starts getting colder, your lawn will have already packed the nutrients into the soil which will continue to feed the roots as the winter progresses.

Rake your lawn

Raking leaves is no one’s idea of a fun time, but it is a very important thing to do to secure your lawn’s health. When you let your leaves lie where they fall on your yard, they can cause several different issues for your grass. Leaves block sunlight to your grass – which is still essential for its health, even in winter – and can hinder the process on water evaporating. If the ground stays too wet for too long, mould can develop and hurt your grass even further.

Either rake your leaves and remove them from your garden or use a mower to break them down into tinier pieces that can be useful to your soil. Leaves can make a great fertilizer so long as they’re broken down and useful to your grass.

Cut your grass shorter

Lawn experts warn against cutting your grass too short during the summer. It can cause stress to your grass, make it susceptible to burns from the heat, and allows weeds a chance to outgrow it.

In the winter, however, cutting your grass shorter than normal can be extremely beneficial. If your grass isn’t cut short enough, the grass can become matted down and potentially smother itself throughout the winter. Longer grass also attracts pests that can set up nests; those in turn will mess up your lawn as well. Cutting your grass shorter also helps to ward off weeds before they begin, especially if you live in a place where a good freeze can happen.

Don’t walk on the lawn too much

Making a snowman or having a snowball fight in the garden with your family can be extremely fun in the winter. However, those soggy conditions can put a lot of stress on your lawn. Excessive foot traffic – especially in soggy conditions – can compress your soil and ruin the integrity of your lawn.

Constantly walking on brown, short grass can make it have a hard time recovering in the spring. Grass is normally pretty resilient, but not when heavy foot traffic is involved as it slows its recovery. Have fun and go play out in the snow; just be wary of the traffic your lawn is getting and try to move to different areas every now and then.

Aerate your Lawn

Aerating is generally a practice that most experts recommend for the spring or fall. However, aerating helps the grassroots by allowing air, nutrients, and water to penetrate the soil more easily. In the winter, your soil struggles the most with this cycle. If your lawn looks matted and is retaining water, aerating might be a great option to prevent some issues.

The fall and winter make or break a great lawn in the spring. By preparing early and keeping an eye on your lawn during the winter, you can get a head start in turning heads with your lawn.

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Valerie Cox is a contributing writer for BeautyLawn Spray. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, swimming, and playing with her puppy.

Gardening, George, Grow Your Own, How To, Plants, Watering

Sowing a Lawn from Seed: A Guide to Success

Whether you’ve been giving your garden a makeover or want to touch up a patchy lawn, growing your own grass is a rewarding and straightforward task. Nothing quite beats a rich natural carpet for relaxing or playing on, and a thick lawn can really enhance your garden. Late spring and autumn are the best times to sow seeds, just outside of the frosty periods and while it’s wet enough to save on watering. Read on to learn about sowing a lawn from seed and before too long you will have a lush green garden to enjoy.

How to sow a new lawn in 6 steps

Step 1 – Prepare the soil

Smooth out the area of earth where you want to grow your new lawn. Then rake over it so the surface has open trenches to take in the seeds.

Step 2 – Sow the seeds

Take your grass seed and sprinkle over the soil. To start a new lawn, use 70g per m² – to thicken up an existing lawn, 50g per m² will do. Aim for an even covering of the soil, sprinkling by hand or using a spreader tool.

Step 3 – Mix in

Use the rake to gently mix the seeds into the top level of soil. Go lightly to avoid leaving any bare patches or putting the seeds too deep.

Step 4 – Watering

Follow our watering schedule to ensure your seeds get enough hydration as they begin to grow:

First fortnight – Water lightly twice a day using a fine spray to avoid washing the seeds away.
Second fortnight – Water once a day or every other day depending on how quickly the soil dries out.
Second month – Water more heavily, twice a week.
Third month – Water once a week.
Up to 6 months – Water enough to stop it drying out, then let nature take over.

Step 5 – Mowing

Soon enough, your budding new grass will need its first trim. You should start to get shoots within the first two weeks. When the grass reaches 5cm tall and it’s a dry day, it’s time to cut. Mow slowly and don’t cut it right back – the plants are still tender. For the first four times you mow, just give it a little trim. After that you can gradually start to cut it back to your desired length.

Step 6 – Lawn care

For the best start in life, you’ll need to give your turf a little TLC. After 3 months you can start regular feeding with lawn fertiliser. But avoid using liquid fertiliser until 6 months. Fertilisers are often specialised for summer or autumn – make sure you use the right type or you will encourage growths that could be damaged at that time of year.

Don’t use weedkiller during the first 6 months either as it may kill the new shoots. Instead weed by hand. After the first year, you can begin aerating the lawn too.

And there you have our six step plan to lawn growing success! We hope these tips help and inspire you to trying out sowing from seed. Alternatively, you can compare real with artificial grass and see which might be best for your garden.

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George works in the Primrose marketing team. As a lover of all things filmic, he also gets involved with our TV ads and web videos.
George’s idea of the perfect time in the garden is a long afternoon sitting in the shade with a good book. A cool breeze, peace and quiet… But of course, he’s usually disturbed by his energetic wire fox terrier, Poppy!
He writes about his misadventures in repotting plants and new discoveries about cat repellers.

See all of George’s posts.

Gardening, George, How To, Planting

How to Grow Moss in Your Garden

Is your garden in need of a design shake up? Do you dream of smooth rolling lawns, but without the hassle of maintaining them? Then perhaps a moss carpet would be a great alternative for you, either across the whole of your garden or for a particular area. Contrary to popular belief, many types of moss can actually grow in the sun as well as the shade, so there’s no need to limit where you can place your moss garden. The key is to look for moss that’s growing in similar conditions to your chosen location when you’re picking samples to transplant. In this guide you’ll learn how to grow moss in your garden with just a few simple steps.

Preparing the area

Pretty much all soil types are suitable for growing moss, except the most sandy soils as these might not be stable enough. Begin by clearing the intended area of any remaining grass, leaves and other debris. Smooth out the soil but feel free to leave curves, bumps and ridges in as desired. Remember that moss clings very closely to the shape of the ground, so any landscaping will be clearly visible. Lightly scratch the earth with a rake to make it easier for the transplanted moss to gain a grip.

Gathering moss

In order to grow a new moss lawn, we’re relying on the natural ability of moss to grow outwards and cover a horizontal area. All you need are samples of living moss to expand and cover your chosen ground. As mentioned earlier, the best way to pick the type of moss that will grow best is to look for some growing in similar conditions – soil type, shading and access to moisture. Obviously ask permission if you’re going to take samples from somewhere outside of your own garden. Scrape some moss from the ground or trees at the original location using a trowel or spatula. This will be easiest when the moss is slightly damp, so go out after a rainfall or spray it with some water yourself. Once you have your sample split it up into lots of small pieces – enough fragments as you can to get good initial coverage of your intended area.

Transplanting the moss

Start by wetting the earth you’ve prepared, though be careful just to make it damp to the touch rather than completely waterlogged. Then push the small fragments of moss into the dirt, not spread out too sparsely but enough so that the whole area is fairly well covered. If you’re worried about the pieces shifting, you can secure them in place with netting or pins to start with.

Settling in

After the transplant it’s important to water the moss regularly – at least a few times a day. Spray the whole moss lawn lightly with water, using a fine head on the hose or a spray bottle for smaller areas. Keep pressing the fragments down, either with your hands or by walking over them. Be aware that it will take some time for the moss to acclimatise and expand to fill in all the gaps. But soon enough you will be enjoying a rich, smooth, spongy lawn all year round.

Moss has great potential to really enhance your garden and differentiate it from a standard turf lawn, which can often be a struggle to keep looking healthy and trimmed. Whether you want a natural secluded cove at the end of the garden or just a place to lay out in the sun, a moss lawn is definitely worth considering. You can transplant the moss any time of year, just keep in mind any falling leaves and adjust your watering depending on the weather. Remember to choose moss suited to your intended place, and you can find varieties that will thrive in shade or sun. A lot of moss is also drought tolerant, all it needs to grow well initially is constant moisture and a lack of competition from other plants.

If you do decide to take the plunge and try out growing moss in your garden, please get in touch and let us know how you get on!

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George works in the Primrose marketing team. As a lover of all things filmic, he also gets involved with our TV ads and web videos.
George’s idea of the perfect time in the garden is a long afternoon sitting in the shade with a good book. A cool breeze, peace and quiet… But of course, he’s usually disturbed by his energetic wire fox terrier, Poppy!
He writes about his misadventures in repotting plants and new discoveries about cat repellers.

See all of George’s posts.

Callum, Garden Design, Gardening Year, How To, Planting, Ponds

Spring Preparation For Your Garden

Lawn

Britain’s climate allows us to grow the very best grass in the world so wouldn’t it be a shame if we didn’t make the most of this wonderful opportunity? Start by removing all the dead leaves, sticks and any other unwanted debris to give your lawn a chance to breathe. Then it’s time to get your rake out, dethatch the lawn and remove all the dead roots and grasses.This process will clear the way for watering, mowing and planting seeds. For larger areas you can seek a scarifier with a motor. The debris will still have to be raked up and removed. Now if you want your lawn to have the best drainage system then a good old fashioned forking wouldn’t go amiss. Simply push the fork into the lawn every 12 centimetres and wiggle it around to break the soil and reduce the compaction.

Alternatively, if forking isn’t for you, an aerator can be used instead. This is a very simple tool that pushes into the lawn like a fork and will remove small plugs of soil which can then have lawn sand brushed into them. Your final step is to add lawn feed and place seeds wherever there are bare patches. I’m sure it goes without saying but it is vital you stay off your lawn as much as possible until your lawn has finished its growth period to give your grass the best chance to prosper.

Soil

Sadly your soil just isn’t the same as it was a half a year ago. Months of rain and numbing temperatures will inevitably take their toll. Now you’ll need to really show your ruthless characteristics at the start of this process. Give your beds a thorough cleaning, remove everything except for perennial plants. This will make it easier to maintain your soil and help you to determine what to plant this year.

The next step is to test your soil. Get a baseline of your soil’s PH by using a testing kit. Test several places in your garden as results can differ across different areas. The ideal P.H is between 6-6.5, if it’s below that then your plants will have a hard time absorbing nutrients. If the P.H is below the magical 6.5, then add some garden lime and use according to the packaging directions. It is unlikely it will be above this, but if it is then add some pure sufler to these alkaline areas or alternatively you can just plant alkaline loving flowers. Finally add an inch or 2 of compost, either homemade or purchased. I would recommend commercial compost as it has a finer texture than homemade, and then simply rake over the surface of soil to even it out across your bed.

Pond

Ponds provide a beautiful sense of sound, movement and reflection in the summer months which many of us like to exhibit to our close friends and families. If you ignore your pond however, then the urge to boast this potentially beautiful spectacle might disappear and regret will sink in. Now (unfortunately for some) it’s time to clean your pond and work that elbow grease. If your pond is murky with no sign of life, start by giving it a good clean. Bail out the water with a bucket and remove any plants, standing them in bowls of water in a shady spot. Scrape the sludge off the bottom of the pond with a spade, being careful not to damage the liner, then scrub the sides and floor with a stiff brush.

I would then recommend supplying yourself with a pond vacuum. This neat mechanism attaches to your hose. The water pressure creates a vacuum venturi effect which sucks up any dirt and debris, collecting in a reusable bag allowing the clean water to pass through. The brush attachment then has special rollers which glide easily over the pond bottom, gently removing the dirt whilst protecting pondlife and fish.

By following all of these steps your garden should have all the essentials to produce the frameworks for an aesthetically pleasing garden ready to show off to all your fellow friends and family. Happy gardening everyone!

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Callum is currently on his placement year here at Primrose with his parents being huge garden enthusiasts.
In the time he has free from his parents rambling on about the garden, he is being a typical university student experiencing life to the full and supporting his beloved Reading FC.

See all of Callum’s posts.