Author: nathe

Want your lawn and yard looking their best now the warmer days have returned? Smash through this list in the glorious sunshine and reward yourself with a barbecue.

(Tip: To help get you into gear turn on your favourite playlist and rock out at the same time!)

Aerate Don your aerating sandals. Loosen up your compacted soil and allow water, nutrients and air to get to your lawn’s roots.

Barbecue Dust off the cover. Check you’ve got gas (after your tidy up, you may want to fire your barbie up). Clean the grill and plates. Don’t forget to clean the fat catcher.  

Compaction Bonus. If you’ve already aerated, you’ve taken care of compaction. If not, see Aerate.

Decks Clear them and scrub them. If you’ve got to reseal, then you’ve got a little more work to do.

Dethatch What’s thatch? If your lawn is really spongy, you’ve got a build-up of thatch. If you can wait (or want to skip a job, because you’re keen to prepare your beef for a barbecue), hold off until the end of spring, as this is the best time to dethatch. Mow low to remove the thatch, but always only on warm season grasses.

Fertilise If your soil’s consistently above about 14 degrees, then it’s time to give your lawn a feed. A slow-release granular fertiliser, such as Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser is recommended.

Furniture Knock off the cobwebs. Dampen a rag and wipe off the dust and debris. Your wood furniture may need a reseal.

Leaves Rake up your leaves and place them in your compost.

Mower Now’s the time to service or get it serviced. If you’re doing it yourself, sharpen the blades and discard your old fuel.

Pre-emergent herbicide If your lawn is free of weeds, good job! To keep it that way, apply a pre-emergent herbicide, such as OxaFert to combat potential infestations of, for example, oxalis or summer weed.

Soil If you’ve aerated and taken care of compaction, you’re almost done. You can consider using wetting agents or water storage crystals to maximise water efficiency.

Top-dress If your lawn’s a little uneven, throw a bit of soil on top. Make sure the leaf blades are still poking through. Top dressing helps to reduce thatch and improves drainage, too. You can delay this task, too, as the best time to top dress is in late spring/early summer.

Umbrella Hopefully you have no more than a little dusting to do here.

Weeds If you’ve got any, then pull them out by hand. If you don’t have any, apply a pre-emergent herbicide so you don’t get any!

Water Water your lawn as little as possible and when you do, water deep. Long, infrequent soaks are better than light, frequent applications.

Zoysia If your lawn is beyond repair, then take a look at Sir Grange (Zeon Zoysia). It’s great in the shade and drought tolerant too. Or for a more affordable option, consider the ever popular Sir Walter.

Congratulations on making it to here? Celebrate and get on to sizzling your steaks for your first barbecue of the season.

Have you thought about installing a water feature in your lawn?

A water feature or small pond can make a beautiful addition to your lawn. Either one could also double as a bird bath or a sanctuary for native wildlife. Spring is a great time to undertake these sorts of backyard spruce ups, which may even add value to your home.

The key with any backyard landscaping is to limit the damage you cause to the existing surroundings. There’s no point in putting in a beautiful water feature if you destroy your lawn, shrubs, pavers or garden beds in the process. If you do damage part of your lawn in the process, you can buy turf rolls to patch up the area. A good idea to help it establish quickly will be to spread a starter fertiliser like Lawn Launcher on the soil prior to laying the turf over the top. Make sure you lay the turf neatly with no gaps in between and have good soil contact to help the roots from the turf easily establish into the soil.

If the damage isn’t too bad and new turf isn’t required, you can simply give the grass an aerate, fertilise and give it time to recover.

One of the easiest ways to install a water feature is to buy a waterproof planter, bird feeder, pond or fountain. This will save you from too much digging or site preparation. There are many options available from your local nursery, gardening centre or Bunnings store. The important thing is to make sure your feature of choice is built to last and is watertight. If you intend on having fish, frogs or other water-based animals or if you just want to add a bit of pizazz to your water feature, you’ll need to consider a pump as well.

If you need to remove some turf in the area where you are installing your water feature, you have a couple of options. Firstly, if the area isn’t overly large, you should be able to remove the grass with a shovel. This might also be a good time to use the grass to patch up another area of your lawn. If you need an easier way to remove the turf, you can hire a turf cutter for the day from most landscaping or hire companies. This turf cutting machine is relatively easy to use and will do all the back breaking hard work for you.

As a general guide, here is what you’ll need to do…

Step 1: Install Power

If you are installing a pump, you will need to have an electrician install a water-proof power outlet nearby. Alternatively, you can disguise an extension lead provided you keep it dry and it doesn’t become a hazard.

Step 2: Connect your pump

Drill a hole for your power cord if there is no drainage hole at the base of your water feature. This will allow you to run the power cord through the hole from your pump to the outside.

Step 3: Make it watertight

Plug the hole with water-proof filler, like Knead It Aqua. Be sure to firmly press the filler in and around the cord to ensure there won’t be any leaks! This should harden within half an hour or so, then you can then test to see if everything is watertight.

Step 4: Create your water environment

This step is really up to you. Add some water plants, rocks or other interesting features. There are endless options here. Making sure your water feature blends in with the environment and lawn will be key.

Step 5: Fill with water

Turn on the hose. Once the feature is full to your required level, switch on the pump and enjoy!

If you are unsure of any of these steps, ask your local nursery for advice before you get yourself in-to deep water.

In most cases, depending on what you are wishing to achieve, you could have your backyard water views sorted all in a weekends work!

Your lawn is a feature of your backyard as well. So make sure you are able to keep your grass maintained easily without the water feature becoming a difficult obstacle to navigate around. Best to use a whipper snipper or brush cutter around the water feature. Then mow your lawn afterwards for a clean and tidy finish.

What’s the difference?

There are two main classifications used to describe the types of herbicides available for killing weeds in your lawn. It is extremely important that you choose the correct one for the situation. Incorrect use can lead to disastrous results, particularly if it involves blanket spraying a non-selective herbicide.

The answers as to how these types of herbicides function lie in the names.

Selective Herbicides

Selective herbicides are ‘selective’ – they only work on a particular type of weed or grass and if used as advised will only harm the intended target and not everything they come in contact with.

Bindii, clover, oxalis and many others – your common broadleaf weeds, can all be targeted with a selective herbicide. There are however selective herbicides that are not safe for use on all grass types. This is where it is very important you read the label and only apply the herbicide to a turf variety that it’s safe to use on. Buffalo grass for example, requires a specific type of active ingredient, usually Bromoxynil. Selective herbicides with the active ingredient Dicamba will harm the weeds as well as your buffalo lawn.

Non-selective Herbicides

On the other hand, there are the non-selective herbicides. There are fewer options with these herbicides, but the key ingredient is almost always glyphosate. Some brands include Round Up and Zero and as the names suggest, non-selective herbicides will definitely not be selective and will harm any living plant species they come in contact with.

Some weeds are difficult to control as there are either no selective herbicides available or they are extremely price prohibitive. In this situation a non-selective herbicide may be your only option. But remember, these herbicides will kill everything they contact. Application is recommended only when hand removal has failed or isn’t an option. If very carefully applied, using a small paintbrush where you can ensure that only the weeds you are targeting come in contact with the non-selective herbicide, then it may be effective.

Generally speaking, though, non-selective herbicides are best used for blanket spraying before installation of a new lawn, for stopping the spread of runners or weeds via edging or for targeting weeds in concrete areas of garden beds where you can easily target the weed or grass without affecting the surrounding plant life.

Save yourself the heartache like the image above! Always carefully read the label of all products before applying to your lawn.

Is your lawn going the colour of custard? Could be your soil’s a little ‘sweet.’ That is, your soil’s pH may be too high. Your lawn won’t perform its best with a soil pH too high (7 to 14, alkaline) or too low (0 to 6, acidic). You could waste fertiliser too, as the lawn won’t feed on it as well if the pH isn’t right. A pH between 6 and 7 and your lawn’s in heaven. And the perfect time to get it in that sweet spot is when you’re laying new lawn. However, new or established, grab a soil test kit or pH meter and test your soil.

A soil test kit even tells you what you need to do to adjust the pH. But if you’re using a meter, then here’s a guide as to what to do next:

For sandy loam soil, you can raise the pH by one unit by spreading the equivalent of 150g of liming material (calcium carbonate) per square metre. (A handful is about 100g.)

Heavy clay soils will need at least 250g to raise the pH by one unit. A super fine grade of lime works the fastest.

For an established lawn, which may lack magnesium, mix 50/50 lime and dolomite as the liming material to get the right balance of calcium and magnesium. Dolomite is only available in one grade.

To lower your soil’s pH use a sulphur product, such as sulphate of ammonia. You can reduce the pH by one unit by applying 100g of sulphate of ammonia per square metre.

Water them in well after application.

Soil conditioners can help you to get the most out of your lawn, too:

Wetting agents assist in getting water to your lawn, rather than the water running off.

Water storage crystals absorb water and make it available to your lawn’s roots.

Fertiliser, such as Lawn Solutions Premium Lawn Fertiliser, gives your lawn essential nutrients and trace elements.

Gypsum (calcium sulphate) helps to break down clay soils to improve drainage and soil structure.

Take your soil from compacted, acidic or too sweet, to sweet as – your lawn will love it.