How to keep your lawn green, and what usually goes wrong

A lawn that will not come good is usually not being neglected, it is being looked after wrongly, and the two things people do most out of good intentions are watering it every day and mowing it too short. Both of those make it worse. So here is what actually moves the needle, roughly in the order I would change it.

1. Water deeply, and not often

I watered my own lawn every day for a long time on the theory that more water meant greener grass, and it does not work like that. A light daily sprinkle only wets the top couple of centimetres, so the roots stay up there where the soil dries out first, and the lawn goes backwards the moment you stop.

Once or twice a week, but properly soaked through, makes the roots chase the water down. Early morning, so it goes into the soil instead of evaporating off the leaf. A deep rooted lawn handles a hot fortnight and a shallow one does not.

2. Feed it, and feed it when it is growing

Grass is a crop and it takes nutrients out of the soil every time you mow and take the clippings away. A slow release lawn fertiliser is the easiest way in, because it feeds over weeks rather than dumping everything at once and burning the leaf.

Look for a balance of nitrogen for the leaf, phosphorus for the roots and potassium for general toughness. Feed through the growing season and back right off when the grass slows down for winter, because fertiliser the lawn cannot use just leaches away.

Do not spread it in the heat of the day and always water it in.

3. Stop scalping it

Setting the mower low to buy yourself an extra week between mows is the most expensive shortcut in lawn care. Cutting too much blade off at once takes away the plant's ability to photosynthesise, and it stresses the grass into exactly the thin, patchy look you were trying to avoid.

Around 6 to 8cm suits most lawns here. Longer grass shades its own soil, holds moisture, and crowds out weeds without you doing anything else. Sharpen the blades too, because a blunt mower tears the leaf rather than cutting it and the torn ends brown off.

4. Fix bare patches properly

Rake the patch over to break the surface, scatter lawn seed, cover it very lightly with soil or seed raising mix, and keep it damp for a couple of weeks. The keeping it damp part is where people lose it, because seed that dries out once is finished.

Match the seed to what you already have or the repair will always be a different colour to the rest.

5. Aerate if it has gone hard

Foot traffic, kids, dogs and time all compact soil, and once it is compacted the water runs off rather than in. On a suburban lawn a garden fork pushed in and rocked back every 10cm or so will do it. It is tedious and it works.

We do not hire out aerators, so for a big area that is a hire place rather than us.

6. Find out what soil you have

Sandy soil drains fast and runs out of nutrients quickly, so it wants feeding more often and watering a bit more. Clay holds water and goes hard, so it wants aerating and organic matter through it. The same lawn routine on those two soils gives you two completely different lawns.

Dig a hole and have a look, or bring a handful in and we will tell you what you are dealing with.

Shop related products

The garden centre carries the Brunnings and Neutrog lawn range along with forks, rakes and spreaders, and there is more online in garden products. Bags of fertiliser are heavy, and local delivery runs Tuesday and Thursday, $5 around Strathalbyn and $10 for the whole regional run.

More on lawns

My dog puts craters in mine faster than I can fill them, so I am giving you advice I cannot fully follow myself.

Cheers,
Candeece

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