If the grass always looking greener on the other side of the fence, spring is the time to start getting your lawn in shape for summer.   Daunted by the prospect, don’t worry as Great Grass is on-hand to help.

Traditionally British gardens were laid out with large expanses of lawns to show off houses and their gardens to best effect.  In the past there were invariably an abundance of staff to maintain them. 

Although the staff may have vanished, lawns remain a key feature of many British gardens. However, poorly maintained a lawn of any size may have the opposite effect to what was originally intended. 

To get the very best out of your lawn this summer there are a number of routine, but essential, turf maintenance activities that must be carried out.   Here we will look at what is necessary to give your lawn an all-important kick-start. 

Scarification in action

Like other plants, grass requires nutrients in order to grow vigorously and healthily and benefits greatly from regular feeding.   At the very least, a good spring-grade fertilizer should be applied containing a relatively high level of nitrogen (N) with Potassium (K) and Phosphate (P). If moss is an issue, the fertilizer should also contain iron (Fe), which while controlling the moss will also harden the plant against disease attack.

A detailed survey of soil samples from twelve gardens around Norfolk, taken by Great Grass in January 2004, threw up some interesting results.  While levels of sulphur, zinc, copper, calcium and iron fell within an acceptable level, two lawns showed a shortfall in manganese, three fell below recommended levels of phosphorus, eight showed a lack of potassium while all twelve showed a major shortfall in magnesium.  

Often deficient in sandy soils, manganese is a very important trace element necessary in the production of chlorophyll and in promoting general growth.  Phosphorus plays an active role in photosynthesis and is therefore important for the growth of shoots and root tips. Potassium promotes cell turgidity and plays an important role in deterring disease attacks, while magnesium is necessary for the production of chlorophyll – essential to photosynthesis. 

While general purpose lawn fertilizers can be purchased from retail outlets, the best results will be achieved using high grade spring fertilizers and specialists products used by turfcare professionals.  Great Grass can apply these for you at a similar cost to if you had bought them yourself.

To get rid of moss, apply a high iron content spring fertilizer. Cheaper products tend to contain less iron and nitrogen and therefore need to be applied at a higher rate. So although they might appear to cost effective, they may well be more expensive per unit area. Accurate application is essential. If in any doubt have a professional grade product applied by Great Grass. 

The build up of dead organic matter in a lawn prevents water and air from getting through to the roots and is probably the single most significant problem affecting lawns that have been neglected. 

Scarification is the process that removes this thatch.  If you didn’t scarify last autumn, or have just killed the moss, spring is a good time to remove the thatch.   Small lawns can be scarified by hand raking, but for larger areas mechanical scarification is definitely the answer!