Spring is a very important time of year for lawn lovers everywhere. By the end of August or September (depending on where you live), the days will be getting longer and the grass should be getting longer and greener too!
A simple rule of thumb is when the nights get warmer and you no longer need to light the fire or turn on the heater, it’s spring time for the lawn and for your garden.
Once the temperatures overnight warm up, soil temperatures increase and your lawn starts to grow. In cooler regions you lawn will come out of its winer dormancy and in the warmer climates your lawn will grow faster. In both cases, mowing frequencies should be closer.
Spring is the ideal time to get your lawn ready for the season ahead and usually involves the following three steps.
- Spring clean your lawn
- Dethatch
- Fertilise
SPRING CLEAN YOUR LAWN
Just like your house your lawn will benefit from a good spring clean. During the winter months, when lawn growth slows down and you don’t mow as regularly, weeds may grow.
In some older grass varieties, you may have to consider spraying weeds out, but if you have a modern type of lawn that competes well with weeds, generally a close mowing will assist in cleaning up the winter weeds. If you lawn is affected by invading grasses, it’s best that these are electively removed by hand or with a weed wand. In any case a good close mowing to know down weeds and remove unwanted thatch and winter debris build-up is ideal for your lawn when spring growing conditions return.
DE THATCH YOUR LAWN
Some lawn species build up a spongy thatch layer over summer and into the winter period, so when spring returns, it’s a good time to give your lawn a close haircut to dethatch it. If you have an older type of lawn, such as couch, you may need to use a scarifying machine (available from most hire outlets), if it’s a type of buffalo however , a very low and close mowing will usually reduce the thatch guild up. in a lot of areas, it can be beneficial to do this annually, if it’s a soft leaf Buffalo lawn set you mower to one of its lower settings and really cut it down low – try and reduce it to 25mm or less in one or two passes.
