You might be time poor when it comes to maintaining your lawn. Here we have some simple lawn care solutions that will save you time and energy that provide great results with a minimum amount of effort!
As you are time-poor, we will keep this brief. We are only going to look at the bare essentials your lawn needs. These are water, food, and energy.
Water
So, can you tell when your lawn needs water?
When it comes to watering, only give it a drink when the lawn needs it.
- Wilting or losing colour.
- If you walk across your lawn and there is a noticeable footprint left behind, then your lawn is likely to be 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 goes all dry and crusty and takes on a light brown colour, there’s a good chance it needs a drink.
- With Buffalo varieties, like Sir Walter DNA Certified, the leaf will curl up when it needs a water.
By only watering your lawn as it needs, the roots of the lawn will grow deeper into the soil, training your lawn to become more drought tolerant. If you do water your lawn frequently, the roots will be shallower and thirstier, and less drought tolerant.
If your lawn does need water, we recommend using the Wobble-Tee Sprinkler. This sprinkler requires little effort to set up and can distribute water across your lawn slow and evenly like rain. This sprinkler disperses water in large droplets that will not drift away in the wind.
The best time to give your lawn water is early in the morning. Watering in the morning will help avoid funguses from growing and water loss by heat related evaporation.
Food
Grass receives the nutrients it needs through the soil. The main nutrients that your lawn will absorb through the soil are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. These nutrients will help your lawn stay healthy and encourage strong growth.
One issue is that there is usually a lack of nutrients in the soil. Low nutrient levels in the soil is common throughout Australia (especially phosphorus) due to extensive weathering. To help amend this, fertilisers are used.
If you use a slow-release granular fertiliser like Lawn Solutions Fertiliser Premium Lawn Food, you will only need to give your lawn a feed while the turf is actively growing. This is best done once in spring, summer, and autumn. We recommend using the long weekends as a guide on when to do this. The October long weekend, Australia Day, and the Easter long weekend. By using a slow-release granular fertiliser, you will only need apply this 3 times throughout the year for the best results.
If your lawn does look like it needs a feed over winter, a foliar fertiliser like Exceed is best. Foliar fertiliser are able to be absorbed almost immediately through the roots or leaves rather than through the soil.
Another option is to use the popular soil conditioner Seasol to help improve the health of your soil for a healthy lawn.
Energy
Like other plants, your lawn receives its energy through the sun. Grasses will produce their own energy through photosynthesis. During this process, the turf will convert sunlight into a sugar known as glucose. This glucose is then used throughout the entire plant to give it the energy to grow. So, it is important to ensure your lawn can receive enough sunlight to produce this.
If your lawn is in a sunny spot and receives lots of sunlight throughout the day, this shouldn’t be an issue to worry about.
Turf varieties with a high shade tolerance such as Sir Walter DNA Certified buffalo and Sir Grange Zoysia will be able to better deal with shady areas. Other varieties like couch and kikuyu do need more sunlight to thrive.
So how do you help minimise shade on your lawn?
If shade on your lawn is caused by surrounding trees, this can usually be fixed by giving these a quick prune back. This should only need to be done every year or so depending on how fast the plants grow back.
If your lawn is in a shady spot and is struggling to absorb sunlight you can mow the lawn a notch or two higher. This will allow for a larger surface area on the leaf blade to absorb sunlight.
For more helpful lawn care tips and advice, check out our other lawn care blogs here.
