The Lawn Care Guide - May

Come rain or shine the lawn will be fine

Weekly mowing of the lawn is probably called for now and the mower blade or cutting deck on the garden tractor lowered for a finer cut and neat stripes. It may be necessary to make a further application of selective weed killer this month if the weeds are persistent.

If you have a large lawn area and use a garden tractor you can use a powered spreader, or a walk- behind pedestrian type to ensure the correct quantity is applied, following the instructions on the packet. If there’s a dry spell there may be the need to water if you use a granular treatment and the same will apply if you are weed free but spreading a slow release fertiliser to feed the lawn.

Any areas of the lawn showing drainage problems when it does rain will benefit from aeration and keep an eye open for signs of disease which can occur if you applied a nitrogenous fertiliser during April.

Moss can be a perennial problem and an application of lawn sand will deal with persistent growth. Lawn sand contains ferrous sulphate which kills the moss, while ammoniacal nitrogen helps to stimulate growth of the grass plant. Water in the lawn sand, and rake out the blackened moss. If you are gardening organically, or simply don’t want to see blackened moss there is an organic fertiliser and moss killer: MO Bacter, which effectively releases high levels of potassium over twelve weeks. The moss ingests this and in turn is digested by the good bacteria in the fertiliser. The result is no black moss to rake out and thatch is reduced.

While moss can be controlled in this way, you need to consider the reasons and underlying conditions that caused moss growth and take steps to prevent, rather than cure. Moss reproduces by releasing thousands of spores, for example, so if it’s not dead before it’s removed it will continue to spread. Poor drainage, wet soils and high levels of thatch encourage moss and such areas of the lawn need appropriate treatment to prevent it occurring and spreading.