How to get a good lawn with less work

Nobody wants to spend every Saturday on the lawn, and the good news is that you do not have to, because most of what makes a lawn look good happens below it rather than on top of it. Get the soil and the grass right at the start and the weekly work drops away to mowing and not much else.

Start with the soil, because everything else sits on it

Thin patchy grass is almost always a soil problem wearing a grass costume. A soil pH test kit takes about 10 minutes and tells you whether the ground has gone sour, and garden lime will bring it back if it has. If the soil is sandy and water runs straight through it, or it is heavy clay and water sits on top, a compost or a soil conditioner worked in does more for the lawn than any amount of fertiliser will.

This is the one job worth doing properly once, because you rarely have to do it again.

Pick a grass that suits the block

A grass that is happy where it is planted needs almost no help, and one that is not will fight you forever. Kikuyu is hard to kill, it repairs itself when the kids wear a track across it, and it copes with a dry summer, which is why so many local lawns are running it. Work out how much sun the area gets and how much traffic it takes, and then choose for that rather than for how it looks on the bag.

Water deeply, and not very often

A light sprinkle every evening trains the roots to stay near the surface, where they dry out the moment you skip a day. A long soak once or twice a week sends the roots down after the water, and a deep rooted lawn is the one that survives January without you thinking about it.

Water early in the morning. It goes into the soil rather than evaporating off, and the grass is dry again by nightfall, which keeps fungal problems down. A tap timer on a sprinkler does the whole thing while you are still asleep.

Feed it a few times a year

Slow release is the lazy option and it is also the better one, because the nutrients go in gradually instead of pushing out a burst of soft growth you then have to mow. Two or three feeds a year through the growing season keeps a lawn thick, and a thick lawn is the cheapest weed control there is.

Water it in after you spread it so it gets down to the roots rather than sitting on the leaf.

Weeds, without the war

A weed needs bare ground and light to get started, so the denser the grass the fewer weeds you get, and that is most of the job done without a spray. For the ones that do get in, a selective weed and feed handles broadleaf weeds without hurting the grass, and the odd bindii or dandelion comes out by hand easily enough when the soil is damp.

Three small habits that do a lot

• Mow a bit higher in summer. Longer leaf shades the soil, holds moisture in and keeps weed seed in the dark.
• Leave the clippings on. They break down and feed the lawn, which is free fertiliser you were otherwise putting in the bin. Only bag them when the grass is long and wet enough to clump.
• Fix bare patches early. A patch repairer with seed and a wetting agent in it fills a worn spot in a few weeks, and a filled spot is one the weeds never get.

What about aerating

If the ground is hard underfoot and water beads on it rather than soaking in, the lawn is compacted and opening it up will help. A garden fork pushed in and rocked back and forth every 15 centimetres or so does most suburban backyards in an afternoon. We do not hire aerators out, and for the average block a fork is genuinely enough.

Shop related products

• Manutec Soil pH Test Kit. Ten minutes, and it tells you whether the problem is the soil before you spend anything else.
• Neutrog Blade Runner Lawn Fertiliser 15kg. Organic based and slow release, so it feeds without forcing a growth spurt.
• Brunnings Kikuyu Lawn Seed 1kg. Tough, self repairing and it handles a dry summer.
• Brunnings Turbo Patch Repairer 800g. Seed and a wetting agent in one, for worn patches and thin corners.

Did you know we also stock soaker hose in the shop, in 7.5, 10 and 15 metre lengths, plus a fertiliser spreader so you get an even spread across the lawn instead of stripes. Neither of those is on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

The lawn food and the seed are in the garden centre, and the 15kg bags go on the delivery run for $5 around Strathalbyn or $10 regionally, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

More from the garden

• How to choose the right grass for a South Australian lawn
• How to stop fertiliser and water running off your lawn
• How to look after a lawn without harsh chemicals

A lawn does not need a lot of love, it needs the right four or five things and then to be left alone, which suits me fine. Ask me in the shop, I am usually there.

Cheers,
Candeece