September 2025

Couch lawns are one of the most popular lawn types to renovate, and for good reason. Known for their ability to bounce back quickly, couch grasses respond especially well to renovation. In this blog, we take a look at the best practice guides to follow when renovating a couch lawn.

Skip to: When Should I Start My Lawn Renovation? Should I Dethatch Couch Grass? How to Scarify Couch Grass? Should I Aerate My Couch Lawn? Should I Top Dress Couch Grass? How To Care for My Couch Lawn After a Renovation?

When Should I Start My Lawn Renovation?

When planning a lawn renovation, timing is everything. Wait until your grass is actively growing so it can recover quickly. A good sign is if you’ve needed to mow a few times recently to keep up with growth. It’s also best to check the extended forecast and make sure warm weather is set to continue in the weeks ahead.

Should I Dethatch Couch Grass?

Couch grass has both rhizomes (underground runners) and stolons (above-ground runners), which makes it highly resilient during lawn renovations. Thanks to this growth system, it can bounce back quickly, even after aggressive renovations.

One of the most common and effective ways to dethatch a couch lawn is by lowering the cutting height on a standard rotary mower and scalping the lawn right back. This process removes much of the thick above-ground material, and when doing a more aggressive renovation, the ground can be left with little material on the soil surface. While it may seem extreme, couch grasses will be able to grow back and repair from its underground rhizomes.

How to Scarify Couch Grass

Another popular way to remove the thatch buildup in a couch lawn is to use a mechanical scarifying machine. These machines work by having spinning blades that will cut into the thatch and soil layer, picking up and removing the layer of thatch and debris from the turf profile.

When using a scarifier, we recommend starting on a lighter, less aggressive setting first. Then assess how much has been removed before moving to a more aggressive setting.

Should I Aerate My Couch Lawn?

After dethatching, if your soil is hard or compacted, it’s a good time to consider aeration. An easy way to check if your lawn needs aeration is with the screwdriver test. To test, simply try pushing a screwdriver into the soil. If it’s difficult to insert, your lawn will benefit from aeration.

For smaller yards, aeration can be completed in a few ways. These include using a garden fork, aerator sandals or a tyne aerator. For larger lawns, as this is a labour-intensive task, it may be worth looking into hiring out a mechanical aerator.

Should I Top Dress Couch Grass?

When top dressing, the material you choose depends on your goal. To correct soil levels, use washed or screened sand. To improve the soil profile, go with a sandy loam mix (about 80% sand and 20% loam).

Apply no more than 1 cm of top dressing at a time. Once spread, rub it into the lawn with a soil leveller or the back of a rake. This will help create a smooth, even surface after your renovation.

How Do I Care for My Couch Lawn After a Renovation?

Following your renovation, we recommend applying a granular fertiliser to help give the lawn a good boost in nutrients to help the grass repair. A granular fertiliser like our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser or ProPlus Mini Prill will be ideal. Spread this out to the area, then give it all a good water in.

lawn fertiliser — Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser

For the weeks following your renovation, keep the water up to the lawn, especially if your region is experiencing some hotter days.

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

Spring is here! Our lawns are actively growing now that the warmer weather is on the way! If your lawn has been left worse for wear over the cooler months, you may need some extra help to get it back on track this spring. In this blog, we share the answers to some of our most commonly asked questions.

Skip to: When Can I Apply a Fertiliser to My Lawn? My Lawn Has Become Overrun with Weeds; What’s The Easiest Way to Remove Them? How Often Should I Mow My Lawn? Should I Renovate My Lawn? When Should I Apply a Pre-Emergent Herbicide?

When Can I Apply a Fertiliser to My Lawn?

When applying a fertiliser to your lawn in spring, it is best to ensure you don’t get your application down too early. For best results, ensure your lawn is actively growing first, so it can uptake the additional nutrients you are applying.

In most regions, this will be around October; but this will be dependent on what temperatures are in your region. We recommend waiting until you have noticed that your lawn has needed a few mows first before the first application.

For fertilising your lawn in spring, we recommend applying a well-rounded granular fertiliser like our Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser, or our ProPlus Mini Prill. If liquid products are more your style, we recommend looking into Exceed Liquid Fertiliser, available in both a handy hose-on and concentrate.

My Lawn Has Become Overrun with Weeds, What’s The Easiest Way Remove Them?

Over winter, when our lawns growth slows down, they can become susceptible to invading weeds. In most cases, if there are only a handful of weeds present, the best and easiest way to get on top of them will be to pull them out by hand. If there are too many for hand removal, you may need to consider using an herbicide.

When using an herbicide, it is important to identify the weed growing in your lawn, so that you can target it with an appropriate product. If you are unsure of what type of weeds you have in your turf, make sure you check out our Ultimate Weed Guide.

For removing common broadleaf weeds like Bindii, Clover, Oxalis and Cudweed from your lawn, we recommend using a broadleaf herbicide like All Purpose Weed Control or Estate Herbicide (Estate Herbicide is a broadleaf herbicide concentrate alternative for the discontinued BinDie.

How Often Should I Mow My Lawn?

As a general rule of thumb, when it comes to mowing your lawn, it is best to ensure you are mowing your lawn regularly enough so that only one third of the leaf blade is removed with each pass.

Unfortunately, there is no one straight answer to how frequently this will be as it is dependent on a variety of factors. These include your location, turf type and weather in your region.

Should I Renovate My Lawn?

Although there is a lot of hype around lawn renovations in spring each year, in most cases, your lawn won’t need a full renovation. A lawn renovation is only required if you want to remove thatch buildup, improve your lawn’s levels, amend your soil profile, decompact your soil base or if you want to take your lawn to the next level.

If your lawn is facing one or more of these issues, consider renovating your lawn. If you want to know more about the renovation process, check out our blog here.

When Should I Apply a Pre-Emergent Herbicide?

Pre-emergent herbicides are one of the easiest ways to help keep your lawn weed free this spring and summer. Pre-emergents should be applied in spring, and then again in autumn, just before the temperatures are set to rise and fall, as this is when the seasonal weed seeds that are in the soil will start to germinate and grow.

When it comes to choosing a pre-emergent to use on your lawn, our go-to is Oxafert and Oxafert Plus. Both of these are in a granular form, making them easy to apply to your lawn. However, if you do prefer to use liquid products on your lawn, another liquid pre-emergent option includes Barricade.