With Spring just around the corner, no doubt you’ll be thinking about getting your house and garden in shape. In terms of your garden, there’s one asset that is so prominent and integral yet it often gets overlooked or at least taken for granted. What is this asset? It’s the simple garden lawn.
When you think about the importance of the common garden lawn, in many ways it’s akin to the living room in your house; it’s where you’ll host barbecues and outdoor get-togethers… play hide and seek… and perhaps even have a water fight in one the few days of proper hot weather summer now seems to offer.
Yet, other than mowing the lawn and occasionally watering it, we often overlook this vital and prominent garden feature. Many people today have wooden glasshouses which act as a propagator to delicate flowers and luscious vegetables – but the common garden lawn just gets walked all over.
We’ve written this article aims to inspire you to offer your lawn some TLC this spring and provides a quick overview of the two most essential aspects of caring for your lawn.
WATERING
Aim to water the lawn after the sunsets in the evening or early in the morning before the sun gains strength; the myth that watering in the sunshine will turn your emerald green lawn into a scorched nightmare is mostly unfounded… it’s just wasteful, as watering in the midday sun means most the water will evaporate rather than soak down to where it needs to be. Many experts recommend watering first thing in the morning as the sun will dry the grass out within a few hours, which means there’s less chance of disease associated with the grass sitting in too much water. There’s no need to water each morning; as it’s better to water deeply and infrequently, as this approach encourages root growth and increases resistance to drought and disease.
MOWING
It can be tempting to keep your grass short but tall grass makes for a much healthier lawn. Try to avoid cutting it below two inches (5cm) as the ideal length in terms of having healthy grass is around three inches (7cm). When you’re cutting the grass, you want to be removing not much more than ⅓ of the blade of grass, as trimming any further than this can seriously damage your grass. You’ll want to mow the lawn when it’s cool and dry; especially avoid cutting the law whilst it’s wet or in the midday sun. The final point is to either leave the grass clippings on the lawn, as they decompose quickly and provide much-needed nutrients, or use the grass as fertiliser on other plants.
So, there are two core aspects of keeping a healthy lawn… but for a really great lawn this summer, consider using fertiliser. If you’re lucky enough to have an open fire, a great tip is to empty the ash out onto the lawn at this time of the year as it will really nourish your lawn (and other plants).
I love nothing more than spending time outside when it gets to spring. This is a collaborated post. You can find my other gardening related posts here. Thanks for reading.
