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Each month, receive tips on the top jobs needed in your garden as well as a wealth of information on a range of gardening topics. From sowing seeds to picking fruit, each month get access to information on the care and maintenance of your flowerbeds, vegetable plot and lawn. As with your own gardening diary, the journal is split into separate sections, each covering a different area of garden care.

Saturday 2 January 2021

The Lawncare Guide - January

If the grass is greener on the other side it’s probably getting better care. Earl Nightingale     

Walking on the lawn when it is frosty will damage the grass. If you walk on it after rain and areas are squelchy underfoot there’s a good chance the lawn needs spiking to alleviate soggy areas which encourage moss and thatch. 

You can do this as soon as the ground dries out a bit using a hollow-tine aerator to remove plugs of soil. It can be the type you push, a self-propelled or an attachment for a garden tractor. 

Alternatively, a garden fork in 15cm (6”) deep at 15cm intervals will be very effective. As soon as you have done a couple of square yards brush in some sharp sand (not builders’ sand) and leave a light dressing on top for grass to root into in the spring. Grass needs sunlight, water, nutrients and air to grow so this way you’ll get oxygen and water to the roots while releasing carbon dioxide that has accumulated. 

Any thatch and moss that have built-up are best treated in the spring by scarifying and persistent moss killed off using a lawn feed, weed and moss killer in granular or spray form.









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