Wide open spaces of lawns are lovely, but they take a lot of work and resources. They do not just happen. In Australia, we have the added complication of very hot dry summers which most lawns do not like. Lawns need a lot of water, nutrients and time. Lawns are cooling, help us relax psychologically during hot weather and are a great place to sit and have fun. Our kids and pets love lawns, especially to roll and play on.
Many gardeners dream of a soft green lawn but do not understand what maintenance techniques are involved to achieve this look. This article is going to let you in to the tricks of the trade and help you create a beautiful green lawn.
There are two types of grasses cool season and warm season and they both have good and bad points. Cool season grasses such as bent, rye or fescue like temperatures between 10-20C and have two growth periods - autumn and spring. They are lovely and green over winter but they tend to go brown over summer. It is difficult to keep them green over summer and they require a lot of water. They have a finer leaf, are not as robust as the warm seasons grasses and do not seem to get into as much trouble of warm season species. Cool season grasses multiply by seed or by producing more tillers around the first shoot that comes from the seed. A tiller is the new side growth, right next to the parent plant.
Warm seasons grasses such a buffalo, couch and kikuyu like warmer temperatures (20-30C) and tend to die down over winter in colder areas. They like tropical humid conditions and keep their colour over summer. They are drought tolerant and can tolerate neglect. But they are very vigorous and get can get into all sort of mischief. Warm season's grasses spread by stolons and/or rhizomes. Rhizomes are actually compressed stems and one of the big draw backs of these types of grasses are that they grow under the ground into your flower beds. Underground runners are very difficult to get rid off as they constantly grow back. Warm season grasses are much coarser and can be prickly to sit on. They tend to build up thatch over time.
As with all plants, the roots need oxygen and compaction is often the major problem with lawns. Compaction is when the soil particles are pushed together and the moisture and oxygen can't penetrate the soil. This often happens in high traffic areas such as the path to the clothes line. Compaction causes the grass to struggle and weeds to thrive as weeds are able to cope with soils with low oxygen. Compaction also causes bad drainage, preventing the water from soaking into the top soil and moving down profile. Puddles are caused by either the pore spaces being full of water, or the particles are so closely packed together, the water can't filter through. The grass literally drowns because there is no oxygen!
Methods of Relieving Compaction
Remove the problem by installing a barrier or fence to keep people off the area. A barrier may consist of shrubs, a garden bed or a fence.
Put paving or stepping stone in to direct foot traffic
Do not use the garden fork. It pushes the soil particles together causing compaction.
Coring relives compaction. It can be done by hand or machine. Machines can be hired from machinery hiring company or you can use a manual hand corer which can be purchased from hardware stores.
Avoid mechanical cultivation such as rotary hoeing as this can create a hard pan of subsoil and destroy any natural structure the soil may have.
To improve the quality of your lawn there are the three Rs - revitalising, renovating or replacing and you need to decide which process suites you best.
Revitalising is improving the maintenance regime, improving and controlling the amount of water and fertilising the lawn receives plus regular weeding.
Renovating is fixing up what you have by coring (plugs of soil), removing thatch (the build up over years of dead roots) and applying a top dressing of new soil and fertiliser.
Replacing is starting again, either sowing seed or using instant turf. But unless the original problems (weeds, drainage and compaction) have been fixed, you will not achieve a beautiful lawn.
You need to decide which of the three Rs you wish to pursue.
Fertilisers
Lawns require a high nitrogen fertiliser which stimulates leaf growth and causes the lawn to green up. Remember you are trying to obtain a uniform green colour all year round, not surges of green. A good lawn fertiliser should have nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium N.P.K ratio of 3:1:2. Inorganic and organic fertilisers are available. Inorganic ones consist of man-made chemicals which are rapidly absorbed by the grass and give quick results. Inorganic fertilisers release their nutrients slowly reducing the frequency of application. Fertilisers can burn lawns, so to prevent this, water the lawn, apply the fertiliser and water again.
The residential lawn needs to be fertilised 3 times per year. Early in spring, start of December and in March. Fertilising in mid- summer will promote soft leaf growth, which burns easily and is susceptible to disease infestation. Fertilising in winter promotes weeds. You can apply fertilisers by hand or a broadcast spreader. Follow the recommended rates on the product for good results.
Water your Lawn - Irrigation
The best time to water a lawn is early in the morning rather than at night. Wet leaves over night provide perfect conditions for disease outbreaks. Watering early morning allows the leaves of the grass to dry out. The key to watering is to water deeply and not often. Deep watering wets the soil profile right through, encouraging roots to grow down into the soil rather than along the surface. Lawns with deep, well established root systems are tough.
Please Note: Cool season lawns are not as tough as warm seasons lawns and require more water over summer. If you are experiencing a run of extremely hot weather and you want a green lawn, you may need to water every day if you have the water to spare.
Weeds
Weeds will invade your lawn if there are bare patches. They can come in from the nature strip or next door and are carried in by the wind, water, animals or feet. They can be controlled by improving aeration and drainage or cutting the grass higher. You can also physically hand remove weeds. You can also try spot spraying as long as you are careful. The drift from the spray kill the surrounding grass.
Moss
Moss in established lawns is a sign of high acidity, bad drainage, low fertility and poor aeration. It can be removed by one of the above methods or by applying copper sulphate or iron sulphate which can be purchased from your local nursery.
Brown Patches or Dry Patches
This situation usually occurs in summer and is often difficult to diagnose what is causing the problem. Insects or grubs may be feeding on the roots of the lawn and close inspection of the soil is needed. Remove a sod and examine the soil layer immediately below with grass roots. If you see fat white grubs then you have either black beetles or cockchafers. To control them you can use chemicals. Developing a good maintenance regime will also help reduce the beetle the problem.
Lawn and Dogs
Female dogs cause more problems on lawns than male dogs. If you have a female dog you may have noticed dead patches of grass about 20cm across caused by their urine. Male dogs tend to urinate on objects rather than straight onto the lawn. Grass killed by dogs will recover, particularly if tackled immediately by heavily watering the area and diluting the concentration of the urine. I also suggest talking to your vet about purchasing food which does not burn the grass. Also, there are mineral rocks available that you can put into your pets drinking water which will neutralise the urine's pH.
Mowing
Mowing heights of lawns is crucial to the overall health and vigour of the grass. Mowing a lawn to within an inch of its life (scalping) places a huge strain on the grass. There is a direct relationship between the height of the leaves and the root growth. Simply stated, the longer the blades left on the grass after mowing, the larger and deeper the root system will be. A general rule is to never mow your lawn lower than 2.5cm. How often you mow depends on the growth rate of the lawn. In spring and early summer, lawns may need to be mown twice a week. In winter, fortnightly mowing is probably all that is required. For late summer and autumn once a week is sufficient.
Don't mow in the same direction. Mow north/south for one cut, then east/west for the next cut. By changing the direction of the mower, you increase your lawns health.
Removal of lawn clippings is the accepted way to mow your lawn as it provides a neat and tidy finish. Lawn clippings can be put into the compost heap but do not just dump them in a pile. They need to be in thin layers and mixed through. If when mowing, you are leaving trails of grass clippings, this means your catcher is full.
Motor Mowers
To cut the grass cleanly, the blades must be sharpened regularly. Blunt blades can cause server injury to the leaf of the grass thus making it susceptible to pests and diseases. Blunt blades also cause the grass to appear yellow and ragged. After every second or third mow, hose the underneath of the mower out. This removes any accumulated grass clippings that can harbour diseases. Most modern mowers have a small hole located on the top of the chassis where you can squirt the hose in and with the engine running at half speed, will clean out nearly all the accumulated grass.
If you use a lawn mowing service, you are quite within your rights to specify that the lawn needs to be mown higher and that it is not mown in the same direction all the time.
Shade
There is no lawn grass that will grow in full shade. Lawn seed mixtures sold as shade tolerant still require some sunlight to grow properly. They do however have low light requirements. A trade off for using these types of lawn species is that they often require more water and frequent fertilising. In shade, lawns should not be mown as closely as those areas in full sun. This will give the appearance of a denser cover of grass.
It may even be necessary to select a lawn alternative that may be a low growing ground cover.
pH
Soil pH is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity and is measured on a scale ranging from zero to fourteen. On this scale zero is extremely acid and fourteen is extremely alkaline. Lawns like a pH between 6 and 7. If you perform a pH test on your lawn and it is above 7, then you can apply some sulphate to lower it. If it is below 6, apply some gardener lime, this will raise it. You can buy both these products at your local nursery.
Lawn Alternatives
Babies Tears: (Helexine soleirolii) Grows best in a moist shady area. It requires occasional trimming. Can be invasive.
Dichondra: (Dichondra repens) Grows well in dry shade. Tolerates foot traffic and recovers if damage. Needs an occasional mow.
Ivy: (Hedera sp.) Ivy is incredibly tough once established. Can be mown down to encourage new growth.
Bellflower: (Campanula portenschlagiana) It does best in slightly shaded areas. Tends to scorch in full sun.
Lamium: (Lamium 'Beacon Silver') The silver foliage brightens a shady area. Dies back in winter.
Native violet: (Viola hederacea) It grows well in moist shade but flowers best in full sun will naturalise if left uncontrolled.
Lawns are great, but a lot of work, resources and money. They create a sense of space and are brilliant at cooling the garden on a hot summer day. Your lawn does not have to be bowling green standard, but to have a healthy lawn you do need to carry out some maintenance. If your lawn has not had any attention for the last decade, it is time to do some.
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