In the pursuit of the perfect lush green lawn. Greengauge will provide you with a comprehensive plan addressing each of the important considerations for a perfect lawn.
Air, food and water - the staple diet of all living organisms, and grass is no different. Get these ingredients right and you are well on the way to having a good looking, healthy lawn.
Aeration - Can be done as often as you want throughout the year. It would be extremely difficult to over-aerate. Cricket squares apart, professional groundsmen and greenkeepers are constantly aerating to varying depths.
Hollow coring machines remove cores of soil and leave lovely holes in the lawn, allowing plenty of air to get to the grass roots. The holes will soon close up as the de-compacted soil spreads and breathes. Regular forking, by hand or machine, will be sufficient for most areas.
Watering - Professionals use the term irrigation, but it's the same thing. Grass needs water, particularly during long, dry spells. Rather than regular, daily watering, it's better to drench the lawn thoroughly then leave for 3 or 4 days. This encourages the roots to go searching deeper into the soil.
Feeding - grass plants require nutrients which they take from the soil. The nutrients required are nitrogen, potassium and phosphate. In the professional world the groundsman or greenkeeper takes soil samples to determine the level of nutrients in the soil before they feed. They then select a fertiliser to redress or maintain the correct level of nutrients. For most lawns a feed in Spring, a top-up feed in the Summer and an Autumn feed, using propriety products will suffice.
Mowing - clean, sharp blades will give a better looking and healthier lawn. Most lawn grasses will be put under stress, and will struggle in harsh conditions such as drought, if maintained much lower than 1 inch (25mm).
At the start of the growing season the cut is at it's highest, just taking the tops off the grass. Gradually the height on subsequent cuts is reduced. The general rule of thumb is not to remove more than one third of the grass height at any one cut. Do not cut in the same direction each time, cut in different directions to encourage the grass to stand up. To get the professional banding effect (striping) the mower needs to have a good heavy roller. The cuttings should be removed on every cut. The exception is during drought conditions when the cuttings should be left on the surface to help retain moisture in the ground.
Edging - Using long handled shears, this job can be strenuous and done incorrectly can damaging your back. Damaged edges should be tidied up using a half moon to get as clean a cut as possible.
Scarification - usually done in Spring and again in Autumn to remove debris from the lawn surface. For small lawns a wire tine rake will be sufficient, however larger lawns require a considerable amount of back breaking work. If you haven't scarified for many years, you will be surprised at the amount of debris. Don't worry, the lawn will benefit from the removal of all the rubbish and, with seeding and feeding, it will be lush in no time.
The Spring scarification is really preparing the lawn for feeding, and seeding in some cases. The Autumn work is to remove leaves, dying grass and debris, ready for seeding.
Top Dressing - normally done in the Autumn, sometimes in Spring, after scarification and hollow coring. Top dresing is a mixture of sand/peat/loam and is used to fill in any depressions in the lawn i.e. levelling. The mixture will also aid the drainage of the soil.
Unless there are major problems with the lawn levels, or you are on a mission to create the perfect lawn, top dressing is not essential in most cases.
If you want a beautiful lawn like one of these then please feel free to contact us.