The Lawn Care Guide - July

‘Until man duplicates a blade of grass, nature can laugh at his so called scientific knowledge.’ - Thomas Edison

The best lawn advice this month is to mow according to growth and consider a light dressing of fertiliser or a summer feed if the lawn is looking a bit weak and thin. Ensure though that the nutrient ratios of Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus are low. You need no more than 10% Nitrogen.

In the hot weather set the mower or cutting deck on the garden tractor at a slightly higher level. Increasing mower height helps the plant blades develop and increases the leaf area exposed to sunlight, which helps improve growth. The higher the height of cut the greater the depth of root and the more resistant the grass will be to drought and disease; and the plant will make better use of the nutrients in the soil.

 

Back to that feed. You can use tomato or liquid rose fertiliser as a cheap but very good way of giving the lawn the feed it needs. If you have weeds present in the lawn you can use a soluble feed and weed product such as Evergreen Complete.

 

When the weather is hot and the lawn dry it’s likely you will have brown patches appearing and these may be due to some areas of compacted ground. You can treat this by lightly spiking (a garden fork will do) and watering with a liquid fertiliser.

 

Should the lawn be generally browning in the sun it helps to use a mulching deck if you have a garden tractor. The blades will chop the grass clippings into a mulch to help protect the lawn and act as a fertiliser.

 

If you want to maintain a fully green lawn then watering during drought periods is essential. With correct watering the grass plant will develop an extensive, deep root system that helps it become drought resistant. Water heavily and infrequently – say every one to two weeks – and then in really hot weather give the lawn lighter applications every three to five days in between heavy watering. You want the water to go deep so the roots push down to take it up to the blades. A lot of water near the surface encourages poor root growth. It is a matter of finding the right balance.