Getting the most out of your lawn this Spring

With Spring well and truly here, most lawns have emerged out of their winter dormancy into the new season. Without you doing much at all, your lawn should be starting to show signs of life - this is because the sun and soil do most of the work in this dep

With Spring well and truly here, most lawns have emerged out of their winter dormancy into the new season. Without you doing much at all, your lawn should be starting to show signs of life - this is because the sun and soil do most of the work in this department. The sun warms the soil which in turn wakes the lawn up and gets it moving. 

Spring is without a doubt the best time of the year to invest some time and energy into your lawn. A good start now can set your lawn up for the rest of the season. We’d like to share our tips for spring lawn preparation and spring lawn care so that your lawn can look the best it possibly can in the lead up to Christmas.

Tip 1) Get the mower out

It’s time to dust off the mower, give it a service and sharpen the blades. Warmth brings growth and in no time you’ll be mowing on a regular basis again. For your first spring mow, set your mower down by one notch to where you finished off in Autumn. While this may slightly discolour your lawn, it will help to keep the thatch layer under control. Speaking of thatch, if your lawn is too thick or spongy, now is the time to consider scarifying. The more thatch your lawn has, the harder it is to keep green so getting thatch under control is essential in keeping your lawn looking good.  If you’re not sure what scarifying or thatch is, stay tuned for our blog next week where we’ll have a good go at explaining it.    

Tip 2) Kill the weeds – Twice!

Spring brings weeds. With the extra warmth around, weed seeds love to germinate in your lawn. Cleaning them up now as they emerge is the best way to get on top of them. If you let them get away in spring, they will invariably go to seed and make the problem even worse in seasons to come. Most weeds are selectively controllable – Go to our blog on weed control to find out you can selectively control weeds in your lawn.  I have 2 tips for you here. 1) Don’t just spray once. Plan to do a follow up spray 3 weeks later. There are plenty of weeds that just won’t die with one spray! Just quietly, there are some circumstances where you may need 3 or 4 sprays but it’s worth the upfront effort to ensure you clean out all the weeds.

Tip 3) Preventative pest control

Preventative control is a much better approach to reactive control. In other words, it’s better to solve the problem before it becomes a problem. October is a time of the year when insects like black beetle larvae hatch which can become a problem for your lawn down the track when they eat its root zone!  There are some really great chemicals like Yates Complete Lawn Insect Control and Brunnings Lawn Grub and Beetle Kill that have an active ingredient that will hang around in the soil for 3 months and continue to kill lawn beetle larvae as they hatch. By spraying one of these products on now, you’ll eliminate any chance of these critters from effecting your lawn through to Christmas.

Tip 4) Fertilise

Late October is the absolute best time to do your Spring fertilising. I’d suggest a balanced mineral fertiliser with trace elements and iron such as Paul Munns Greenkeeper.  A fertiliser like this is provides all the essential elements like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous but goes the extra mile by adding trace elements which are essentially like a multi vitamin for your lawn. For more information on fertilising, have a read of our Spring Time Fertilising blog.