Author: turfandsoil

Lawns are like most things if you maintain them and do not let them get patchy and run down they are strong and healthy and weeds will find it pretty hard to gain a foot hold.

Having said that your lawn is basically under attack 24/7 from the threat of weeds and foreign grasses and are usually carried in by bird droppings, pets, humans’ boots and particularly the wind

If you do find that your lawn is becoming infested by weeds then you will have to identify them and use a selective weed killer to remove them, we would advise for this job that you use a trained professional, if your lawn is very old and fibrous with a heavy presence of weeds than it is probably best to cut your losses and replace the lawn, after all turf is one of the cheapest surfaces on the plant by the sq metre and has not really gone up in price in real terms for 20 years.

Winters can be hard on Lawns especially this winter which certainly in Lancashire has been the wettest that we have ever seen on our farms, The best plan of action coming into October is to add a gentle low N slow release fertiliser just to keep it looking green and keep a strong root system and then by late October you will  be usually carrying out your final cut however this winter has been terrible because the day time temps has meant that the grass has carried on growing all winter but when you have large areas of turf lying in water you can not mow it so you finish up stuck between a rock and a hard place.

The best bet for the minute is to be patient and hold off until the conditions dry out a little if you do spy an opportunity to get the mower out an ideal time is on the odd windy afternoon after the morning dew has passed, that’s basically what we are having to do on the farm at the minute, Moss build up and compaction are a problem after these conditions so a simple cost free job for this month can be some gentle aeration with a garden spade to a depth of around 100mm this will move water around and help get air to the roots.

In terms of appearance most lawns in Lancashire at minute are looking very similar, the fine fescues have suffered a lot leaving many lawns looking patchy and muddy and the strong rye grasses will be looking very much the dominant grass in the lawn, to balance this out again we advise that you wait until early march and add a low N granular feed and then start to pick up mowing, make sure that your mower has clean sharp blades to help knock the rye grass back and allow the fine fescue to bounce back and be sure to collect the grass clippings after because wet grass lying on your turf is really really harmful, If by early summer you still haven’t got the desired result as a last option before a re turf you could over seed your lawn. Which is a surprisingly cheap job on most average size lawns however results do tend to be mixed depending on the conditions for the following months after application.

By February most keen gardeners are itching to get back outside and get involved in the garden, The weather can still limit what you can do at this time of year but you should certainly be starting to plan what crops you are aiming to produce, As long as the ground isn’t frozen, the key job for this month is to cultivate and prepare seedbeds, covering them with clear polythene, cloches or fleece to warm up the soil before sowing.

The Weather this winter has been so mild with daytime temperatures  regularly reaching 10 – 12 so getting fruit and vegetables growing is not going to be a problem right now in fact we have been mowing our turf on the farm right through the winter including Christmas week unbelievably! The rain could however be a problem as trying to dig up wet ground can be a nightmare, you have to use an opportunistic approach to your outside projects this time of year.

February is a great time to think about adding a strong soil improver to turbo charge those borders in time for the growing season, these wet periods are especially useful if you have very heavy and stiff clay type soils in your garden because they tend to be very hard to cultivate and work in your soil improver in the dry months once the ground gets hard.

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