Keeping your grass healthy this Summer

A lot of us will hopefully be spending a lot of time in our garden this summer. A nice, tidy, and green lawn makes the experience more enjoyable, so what can you do in preparation to ensure a healthy lawn to lounge about?

Lawns don’t need to take up all your time, but they do require a little TLC on occasion. They take the brunt of a lot, between kids and pets and being constantly exposed to the elements, if left to its own devices it can easily become patchy and dull but with just a little maintenance when it needs it most you can be on your way to a healthy, green lawn.

Drainage

If you’re someone who lives somewhere with frequent rain or flooding, then drainage could be an occurring issue for you. The more you use your lawn the more compacted it can be and this can lead to drainage issues. The easiest way to tell if this is an issue for you is if after a wet spell if water remains in low-lying areas or particular parts of your lawn. The easiest solution to this issue as highlighted by Carpenters Nursery is to use a fork to aerate it and fill these holes with sand to discourage weeds, this should be done every Spring & Autumn for the best results. If the issue persists, then a more drastic drainage solution may need to be found.

Food and Water

Much like us, our lawns need to occasionally be fed and watered. Watering should be limited to if there is a particularly long dry and hot spell which if you live in Scotland, won’t be a frequent issue.

Your lawn won’t need to be fed often, throwing your grass some fertilizer during spring and autumn Is enough to ensure its health throughout the warmer months. Much like us, the key to health is nutrition. Fertilizer can give your lawn the much-needed nutrition it needs therefore the type of fertilizer you use and what it contains is important. Turf online has a great guide on what you should look for in fertilizer depending on your lawn needs

Eliminating weeds

If you do have weeds then pretty much your only two options are to remove them by hand or use herbicide, natural ones are recommended more than chemicals because they are healthier for the rest of your grass as well as for the natural environment and ensure you don’t go overboard with it.

Prevention

When it comes to the prevention of weeds, the main barrier is a grass barrier. Having a dense lawn creates a natural barrier and you will experience fewer weeds. One of the best ways to create this barrier is frequent mowing…

Lawn cutting

Lawn cutting itself can be damaging to your lawn. A common mistake is cutting too short. It may be tempting to cut as short as you can to reduce the time needed to cut again however this can impact the health of the grass because it causes stress on the grass. A great explanation from Joe’s lawn care is

“Shorter lawns means shorter blades of grass, and the fewer blades of grass, the less photosynthesis, which means a whole lot fewer roots and shoots”

The simplest solution to this is to ensure that you are cutting your grass long enough, the exact length recommended depends on the state of your lawn, its health, what is contained within the grass and even if it is in the shade or sun. Lawn smith provides a great guideline for mowing heights depending on your grass and offers the best tip of all, “If in doubt, mow high”

If you’re looking for an even easier way to keep your lawn looking healthy with minimal effort, then a robotic mower might be a good consideration. Robotic mowers mow the lawn little and often and can be set to your personal preference alongside what is most healthy for your lawn at that time, so this can be changed as the season progresses as well as for trouble areas. This causes the lawn blades to grow wider and from more shoots as frequent mowing stimulates root growth, making the lawn denser and therefore you will experience fewer weeds.

As well as this the mowing itself is less traumatic to the lawn, due to the razor-sharp blades there is a clean-cut which cannot be said for larger more brutal lawnmowers. Since the Automower just cuts off a little at a time the cut pieces remain on the lawn and act as a natural fertilizer.

This is why many of our customers who get a robotic mower see a huge change in the health of their grass, frequency of weeds, and the look of their grass is much denser and greener than it was with traditional mowing, all of these benefits and it’s even simpler for them as they don’t even have to mow it!

Get greener, healthier grass as a fraction of the effort now and browse our Robotic mowers