Wake Up The Lawn

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When it comes to lawn care, this is the time for ‘spring scarifying’ your lawn. That means a short cut, firm raking, aerating, generous feeding, levelling out and covering with a blanket of lawn dressing. This treatment is only recommended for runner-type lawns like Kikuyu and some of the tougher Cynodon grasses. Tuft-forming grasses like All Season’s Evergreen, Shade Over, Berea and Durban grasses should just be mown as normal before starting the spring treatment.

How to Do Your Lawn Care

• Mow the lawn short.
• Use a sharp-toothed steel rake and rake the whole lawn across and down to loosen and remove the old dead mat. (Skip this step for tuft-forming and tropical grass types, as mentioned above).
• Take a garden fork and drive it into the turf every 20 – 30cm, working the prongs down as far as they can go and also wriggling it about. This airing technique allows air, food and water to reach the root system.
• Your next step is to feed the lawn with a fertiliser to promote strong root and cell growth first, before worrying about that deep emerald green colour on top. Keep to the recommended dose printed on the bag and water the lawn well the day before you are going to apply the fertiliser.
• Water thoroughly and immediately after fertilising.
• Top dressing is a good way to smooth out a lawn and encourage new growth. Use a quality commercial lawn dressing, as it will contain sterilised, finely sieved organic materials that will improve drainage and water-holding capacity. Apply it no thicker than a 3cm layer to a fairly dried off lawn. Level it out by means of a flat board tied to the end of your rake.
• Start watering again as soon as the blades of grass start showing through.

Follow through with this lawn care regime and enjoy your beautiful lawn in spring and summer.