Pittwater Online News

 Spring Lawn Care

Springtime is a season where we feed everything growing in our gardens to encourage and support new growth and strengthen each plant prior to the heady summer days to come. Your lawn is no exception to this and a little work put in now will ensure you have a healthy spread of green when the weather becomes hotter and drier.

Just as we benefit from a massage to stimulate circulation, our lawns benefit from a good firm raking. During Winter our lawns and the soil supporting them often becomes compacted while the blades and roots may die off and this will reduce the health of lawn. Raking removes dead blades of grass, leaves and creates aeration and loosens up matted patches. If your lawn’s soil is very hard it is suggested you use a steel rake to create points into the lawn to add extra air flow and water and loosen compaction. This will also encourage new growth.

The other base for a good lawn is having a close look at its condition each Spring to determine whether it’s in good health. If you have a lot of moss plants amongst the lawn this is a sign of soil acidity. Lawns thrive on a neutral soil PH and applying lime will correct this.

If you have bare patches due to dog frolics, heavy traffic or water run-off and pooling you will need to re-seed these areas. Applying a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer as you do will benefit the new seedlings. Once the seed has germinated and you have given it the first cut, lawn experts recommend a quick release nitrogen fertilizer to boost its health. Sowing on a still day, due to this seed’s weight, is always a good choice. You don’t want the seed being blown away before it can grow.

If you fertilized your lawn in Autumn your lawn will generally be still using that in Spring. A lighter feeding is recommended for Spring and any organic fertilizer is going to be better for something that is organic itself and for the environment surrounding or adjoined to it.

The last Spring Care pointer is to weed now; bindis will multiply as the weather gets warmer and more Spring rains fall. This week a profusion of dandelion flowers out, if you’re not going to use the leaves in salads and don’t want these bright yellow flowers as part of your lawn, shows weeds will multiply, and quickly, if not attended to.

Johnson Brothers Mitre 10 currently have a range of Mighty Spring Specials (to 23/9/2012) that includes garden tools, lawn seeds, Turf Lifter organic based fertilizers and even a new lawnmower should yours need replacing. To ensure you have many happy rollings over the greens this Summer put in a few hours now and take advantage of their expert advice and timely sales at either their Mona Vale and Avalon stores now.