Here are our top tips to keep your grass green this summer, whatever the weather.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The most important gardening activity that delivers the best results is mowing. With the correct mowing regime, you can keep your lawn looking good and performing well. Feeding, aerating, scarifying, and mulching are also essential gardening tasks.
Since Spring, grass has been growing well and lawn areas have been receiving regular mowing.
But a common error is to mow your lawn far too low, scalping the grass, or too infrequently, both of which weaken it and allow weeds and moss to establish. For the best quality lawns, mow whenever the grass reaches a sensible height that can be cut. To strengthen, keep the grass at the same, consistent height all year round and nip off the tip with each mow rather than scalp. Don’t cut the grass too short as this will allow weeds and moss to thrive.
For normal lawns that take a lot of wear and tear, the height should be around 4-5cm and 2-2.5cm for lawns of fine-leaved grasses. Grass growing in shaded areas, mow even higher – around 7.5cm and mower heights can be raised in autumn and winter and during periods of prolonged drought in summer.
As a rule of thumb, keep mowing while the grass is still growing. With climate change, it is now harder to put a definitive timeframe on it.
Water and feed
Grass is a plant and needs as much care as any other plant growing in the garden. So, after mowing, watering, and feeding are important lawncare tasks to keep it growing strong and healthy.
In the height of summer and in drought, you will need to water the lawn about once a week to keep it looking green. Grass is very resilient and will recover in autumn, but the lack of grass can allow weeds and moss to grow instead.
Don’t worry about brown lawns. Grass is tough and an established lawn with a healthy root system can withstand periods of drought. When grass turns brown it looks like the whole lawn has died, but it will recover once the rains return.
Regular mowing removes a lot of nutrients, and for a lawn that looks lush and green you need to replace these nutrients with a lawn feed.
Feeding also makes the grass thicker, stronger and healthier, so it can fight off moss, weeds and handle drought stress in summer and cold and wet stress in winter.
Liquid lawn feeds get to work straight away and are less likely to burn the grass than granular feeds, plus not so affected by variable weather conditions.
There are many moss products on the market. An organic solution works well and with some brands, there is no need to rake out the moss after.
Reseed bare patches
Reseed and overseed bare, patchy and tired areas. After the winter and last year’s hot summer, many lawns are struggling with bare patches, uneven growth, and thin grass areas. All three situations can be corrected by simply applying fresh grass seed.
Mulching matters
Grass clippings make a ready-made mulch that is free and readily available! Mulch is a thick layer of material placed over the soil and around plants, used to suppress weeds and lock moisture into the soil, while acting as a physical barrier to drying winds and direct sun. Some mulches also contain nutrients, acting as slow-release plant food. As worms take the mulch into the soil, they help to improve soil structure, making it more moisture retentive, free-draining and fertile.
Mulching mowers are designed to cut the grass into fine clippings which are then recycled by being blown back down on to the lawn. This helps to feed the grass roots with nutrients and additional moisture for a healthier and greener lawn.
Many of the petrol lawn mowers available are classed as ‘3-in-1’ or ‘4-in-1’ machines because they offer the user the option of collecting, mulching, rear-discharging, or side-discharging the grass. These petrol lawnmowers offer excellent value and include self-propelled and push models from market-leading brands: Mountfield, Stiga, Hayter, Toro, and AL-KO.
If you are looking for a powerful ride-on tractor with a side discharge mulching capability so you don’t have to collect your grass trimmings take a closer look at the Mountfield 1538 M-SD. In tall growth conditions, the side-discharge mode neatly cuts and spreads the grass so it can be left to wilt naturally. This is on offer and saves you £200.
For areas that are being cut on a more regular basis, you can purchase a mulch plug which when fitted will cut and re-cut the grass trimmings into smaller particles that disappear into the turf, returning valuable nutrients to the soil. This is useful in drier conditions when the grass is shorter.
Mowers that mulch
At Mowers-Online we stock a range of petrol mowers, hand or self-propelled that come with mulching features to help manage your grass clippings and recycle them in an environmentally friendly way, retaining moisture in the flower beds.
The ATCO Quattro 22SH BBC is the ATCO flagship walk-behind mower, the 53cm /21″ hybrid steel/aluminium cutter deck houses a 163cc Honda OHV engine which is a balanced combination of performance and fuel economy. The walk-behind lawnmower benefits from a blade brake clutch, 4-in-1 mowing functions and responsive self-propelled drive. It also has the Collect, Mulch, Side and Rear Discharge features. Again, on offer at £959.00. with a saving.
At the other end of the budget scale sits the popular Mountfield SP42.
The 4 wheeled Mountfield SP42 has great features including a mulch plug and 60L fabric grass bag. The fabric grass catchers let air circulate through the cuttings for more efficient collecting.
The Mountfield SP185 another affordable petrol mower, self-propelled to optimise your effort and make the task easier in this heat. It comes with various mowing functions: Collect, Mulch and Rear discharge.
Please call our team for expert advice before you buy or go online and use our live chat facility. Happy mowing.