Month: September 2022

So, your new lawn is now installed, and you’re unsure what to do next? This blog covers a few simple steps on how to care for your new lawn.

Watering For a New Lawn

Ensuring your lawn has enough water, especially for the first few days after installation, is essential to help stop the grass roots from drying out.

For the first few days after receiving your lawn, you will need to irrigate more frequently. This is because the grass roots won’t have had the chance to grow into the soil. The duration and number of times you need to water will depend on a few factors, including temperatures, location, and rainfall.

As a general guide, you want to ensure your grass roots stay damp. If you are experiencing lots of rainfall in your area, you may not need additional irrigation. However, if your temperatures are hotter without rainfall, you may need to irrigate a few times a day.

For more information on watering your lawn, it is best to reach out to your local turf supplier. They will be familiar with the current weather conditions and local area.

Once the roots of your lawn have established into the soil, you can start reducing the number of times you need to irrigate. Once your lawn is fully established, you should only need to irrigate when there is not enough rainfall to meet the needs of your lawn. Some tell-tale signs that your lawn needs water are:

• Leaf is wilting or losing colour.
• If you walk across your lawn and leave a footprint behind, then your lawn is likely lacking in water. If it bounces back, your lawn should be well hydrated. This is known as the footprint test.
• During hot weather, if it’s looking dry.

Mowing Your Lawn For the First Time

Your new lawn should be ready for its first mow once the grass roots grow into the soil profile. To see if it is ready, try lifting the corner of a turf roll from the ground. It is ready to mow if you can’t lift the roll from the ground.

With your first mow, raise the mower’s height so only the top of the leaf blade is removed. Then, slowly bring the height back to your preferred mowing height over the next few mows.

Should I Fertilise My New Lawn

Once the lawn has been down for 6 – 8 weeks, it will be ready for its first fertiliser application. For fertilising a new lawn we recommend using a well-balanced fertiliser, like our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser. This contains all the nutrients your lawn needs to thrive over the coming months and is safe to use on lawn types.

If you want to apply products during the lawns first few weeks, you can use a soil conditioner like Lawn Kelper, this will help stimulate and strengthen roots and shoots.

Can I Use Herbicides on a New Lawn?

If you notice weeds starting to grow in your new lawn, it is best to hold off from using herbicides till the lawn has fully established. However, most lawn weeds should be able to be removed by hand.

If we haven’t touched on any inquiries you have about caring for your new lawn, reach out to your local turf supplier, or get in contact with the Lawn Solutions Team.

For more lawn care tips and advice, check out our other lawn care blogs here.

Are you wanting to get your lawn on the mend but not sure if you can fit it into your budget? This blog looks at how you can get your lawn looking its best, even when working on a budget this spring.

Aerate Your Soil

Aerating your soil will help create space below ground for your soil to take in air, nutrients, and water. This will help stop and avoid many problems associated with compaction, like drainage issues, bare patches, weeds, dry spots, and fungal diseases. Aerating your lawn will also help the grass roots grow deeper into the soil base so the grass can grow stronger and more vigorously.

To aerate your soil, you can manually use a sturdy garden fork and drive it into the ground. Give it a good wiggle back and forward to help decompact the soil base. Continue this process across the lawn and aim for around 8 – 10cm apart.

Weeding Your Lawn

One of the quickest and easiest ways to remove most types of weeds is to pull them out by hand.

• Remove weeds when they are small to help prevent them from spreading. At this stage, they are also unlikely to have gone to seed, preventing them from spreading further.
• Remove all the weed’s roots.
• Break up your lawn into smaller sections. Remove weeds from one area daily to help make the task seem less daunting.
• Weed after rain. This is when the soil will be damp, making it easier to remove weeds.

Please note that some weeds are not recommended to be removed by hand, including Nutgrass, Soursob, and Onion Weed. Please have a look for more information here.

You Should Mow Your Lawn Regularly

Mowing your lawn regularly will not only help your lawn look tidy but will improve the health of your lawn. By mowing your lawn regularly, you will:

• Encourage lateral growth, helping your lawn become thicker.
• Help reduce stress on the lawn when removing too much of the leaf at once.
• Help encourage a consistent growth pattern.
• Help your lawn be less susceptible to disease, weeds, and pests.

So how often should you mow? We recommend mowing your lawn frequently enough so that only one-third of the leaf will be removed with each pass. In the warmer months, while the lawn is actively growing you will need to mow more frequently. In the cooler months, the lawn will slow down in growth and will require less frequent mows.

Mowing frequently will also help make mowing easier as you won’t need to push the mower through tall grass.

Should I Mow with the Catcher Off?

Your lawn’s clippings are a great source of nitrogen and can act as a natural fertiliser for your lawn. When leaving your clippings on the lawn, it is best to ensure you frequently mow and that only a small amount of the leaf is removed. This will help avoid the grass underneath becoming smothered.

When Should I Fertilise My Lawn?

If there is room in the budget, fertilising your lawn will help provide essential nutrients to the lawn. This will help give your lawn a boost and will help provide the nutrients your lawn needs to stay healthy.

When choosing a fertiliser, we recommend using our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser. This fertiliser has a well-balanced ratio of nutrients and is suitable for all lawn varieties.

For more lawn care tips and advice, check out our other lawn care blogs here.