Congratulations, you’ve done the heavy lifting (literally and physically) and laid your turf, but now comes the hard part. How do you care for your new lawn, so it stays healthy and thrives throughout the year?
First things first, never forget your lawn is alive. It needs food and water and the occasional haircut too.
Food
Your lawn is going to need fertilising. Fertilising isn’t just about keeping your lawn green, it’s about keeping your lawn fit and healthy which means it can fight off diseases, pests and weeds more easily.
For most of us, fertilising is best done in early spring, mid-summer and then again in autumn.
It’s worth pointing out that fertiliser isn’t immune to being washed away with heavy rainfall. So, avoid fertilising before the wet season, if you have one in your area, or when you know there is likely to be heavy rainfall. In these cases, it’s better to use lighter and more frequent applications.
We like to use natural liquid fertilisers as they are fast acting. Our go to lawn fertiliser is Seasol Lush Green Lawns.
Watering
Watering is a bit like the Goldilocks fable – too little, too much or just right.
Too little water and your lawn will look brown and the leaves will curl up. If you water it in the morning and evening for a few days, you’ll immediately notice a difference.
Too much water and you’ll hear that squelch under foot. Assuming you don’t have a clay-based soil, this should clear up in a few days with no watering. Clearly, you are watering too much, and your lawn is letting you know.
Just the right amount and your lawn will be lush and green.
Mowing
Mowing your lawn is for more than purely ascetic reasons. Did you know mowing your lawn also helps reduce the number of weeds in your lawn by cutting them off before they seed.
Most people cut their lawns too short and probably don’t even know it.
If you’ve got Buffalo or Kikuyu then you should be looking to cut your lawn to about 3 to 5cm. If you’ve got a Zoysia like TifTuf then you can drop that down to 2 or 3cm.
Just like a good chef, you’ll get the best results using sharp blades.
If you have any questions or comments, we’d love to hear from you and will do our best to quickly reply.
Happy gardening,
Steve