Aerate By Tilling The Soil
Your next step is tilling the soil to about five to six inches in depth. This process makes good use of all existing vegetation. If youre dealing with sandy or clay soil, then consider adding a four to six inch layer of compost as you till the vegetation. Organic matter will help sandy soil hold water more effectively. It also makes clay soil less bulky.
Second: Aerate The Lawn
Walking across the lawn, playing on it, pushing the wheelbarrow over it eventually all traffic causes compaction of the soil, especially on heavy clay soils where the tiny particles are inclined to stick together, As soon as the ground is moist enough aerate the lawn by spiking it. This can be achieved using a garden fork pushed into the surface to a depth of 10-15cm at frequent intervals. Alternatively you can use a lawn aerating tool or spiker.
Traditionally a lawn dressing is applied after spiking. However, on heavy soils you can achieve great results using Vitax Clay breaker. This is a granular treatment you scatter across the lawn after aeration. Rake with a plastic lawn rake and the granules drop into the holes and Clay Breaker gets to work beneath the surface conditioning the soil and improving the growing conditions for grass roots.
How To Restore A Lawn Full Of Weeds
Read our handy guide on how to restore a weedy, patchy lawn to its former glory.
If your lawn is patchy and full of weeds, it will never be the envy of the neighborhood. What youre after is a lush, green lawn with even grass and no dandelions poking their way through. That may sound hard to achieve, but it isnt too difficult if you follow these steps.
If you only have a few pesky weeds punctuating your lawn, you may be able to dig them up by handpaying careful attention to make sure you get them roots and all. But if your lawn is overrun with weeds, you may need to start from scratch. Heres our how-to guide on restoring a lawn full of weeds.
Once your lawn is nice and green, we recommend hiring a professional lawn care company to help you maintain it to keep it weed-free. Our top recommendation goes to industry leader TruGreen.
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Spring Lawn Care Tips: How To Revive Your Grass And Get It Looking Tip
Discover our spring lawn care tips and get your lushest grass yet through raking, scarifying, mowing and feeding
Now winter is behind us, it’s time to discover our spring lawn care tips. After all, the early signs of spring are already starting to show, from the first flowering bulbs to the slightly lighter evenings. It won’t be long before everything bursts back into life after the quiet, dormancy period of winter.
For many of us, a luscious lawn is one of the most important features of the garden come warmer months. We all want picture-perfect grass that’s a beautiful shade of green lovely for lounging on, running across barefoot, or simply admiring from the patio. We certainly don’t want an eyesore of shabby, moss-filled, half-dead turf to be the focal point of our plot.
To achieve the former, preparation is key. And whether your garden is large or small, we’re here to help you on your way. So read on to discover our spring lawn care tips, from how to use your best lawn mower to advice on over-seeding, and more.
How To Revive Grass: Make A Plan & Examine Your Yard
Power aerators and power rakes can usually be rented by the hour, half day or day. Because these two machines are in high demand , ensure that your work plan will flow uninterrupted by reserving both machines in advance. Save some money by first renting the aerator, then picking up the power rake when you drop off the aerator. Rejuvenate your lawn using these strategies:
- Budget your time: You should be able to aerate and power rake up to 5,000 sq. ft. in three to four hours.
- Avoid renting aerators that are equipped with spikes and only roll over the lawn and perforate it. The core aerators that actually remove soil plugslike the one shownare vastly superior because they open up more soil volume.
- Recruit a buddy who has either a pickup truck or a minivan to help wrangle these heavy lawn machines home and back to the rental center. Inquire whether your rental center offers delivery and pickup .
- If your grass is thinned out, adopt a more aggressive plan for total lawn rejuvenation by following the steps shown in Photos 3 and 4.
- If your lawn has excess thatch or youve laid new seed, use the spreader and apply decomposter mix to both accelerate the decay of thatch left in the turf and increase seed germination and rooting .
- Complete any plan by watering your lawn with up to 1/2 in. of water for thin lawns and 1/4 in. for bare soil. Over-watering will wash away the seed and nutrients.
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Aerate Your Lawn In Late Spring And Early Autumn
Your lawn can becoming compacted through use and different weather conditions, which restricts the absorption of air, water and nutrients at root level.
The concept and process of aeration is simple: take a strong, long-handled fork out of storage, put on a pair of boots or wellies with thick soles and use your weight to dig the fork down into the lawn to create small holes. Leave a set of holes every two feet or so until the entire lawn has been aerated.
Your work will stimulate new growth, improve water drainage and de-compact your lawn below surface level. Timing is key: aim to aerate in late spring and early autumn, when your lawn is established but when very hot weather hasnt made the soil dry and hard to dig.
The More Your Mow The Thicker Your Grass Will Grow
As soon as the cold winter snap seems to be over, and your grass seedlings are dry and established, start mowing at least once a fortnight in spring and once a week in summer to prompt full and thick regrowth. Remember to collect your clipping to store in a your compost bin. If you dont have one, a thick black bin bag will do!
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How To Overseed Small Patches
Small patches in your lawn are mostly a result of weed removal, an accidental overuse of fertiliser or a dogs urine. Weed removal, whether done chemically or manually, creates a small hole in the lawn. This can be easily filled with a 3-in-1 lawn repair kit which will be available at almost all garden centres. The lawn repair kit contains peat, grass seed and fertiliser. After application, water well and wait for the results.
Other patches created by accidental fertiliser overuse or a pets urine usually kill the grass, leading to a brown spot. In this case, the dead grass needs to be removed prior to repair kit application.
If you have a grass seed sitting around in your garden shed and dont want to invest in a lawn repair kit, we have a cheaper alternative. Fill the hole with a handful of topsoil from your garden and sprinkle with grass seed. Again, gently press down by hand or foot to ensure the contact of seed with the ground. You can place down a fertiliser granule, but only as much as you can carry between two fingers. Water well and the results should arrive within 14 days.
How Compaction And Excess Thatch Ruin Your Lawn
The zone where grass meets soil is an amazing micro world of plant roots, bacteria, insects and complex chemical reactions. Healthy soil is soil thats loose enough to allow air, water and nutrients to pass into it to foster plant growth. Keep these concepts in mind:
Compacted soil strangles roots The causes are many: In existing lawns, the top 1 to 1-1/2 in. of soil becomes compacted over time from foot traffic, riding lawn mowers, high clay content and rain. New lawns often have problemsbeginning with home construction or remodelingwhen topsoil is bulldozed, remixed with subsoil and over-compacted. Sod lawns that are hastily laid over unevenly graded lots look good enough for the contractors to get paid, but they can manifest problems after one or two growing seasons. In both cases, the eventual outcome is choked and starved grass roots.
You can reverse the damage on a thinning lawn Revitalize compacted soils once a year. Run a power core aerator over the lawn to pull up plugs of dirt, creating voids in the subterranean soil to provide space for and stimulate new root growth . The slashing action of the power rakes vertical tines slits the soils surface where seed, nutrients and water can combine to regenerate the lawn.
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How To Restore Your Lawn By Overseeding
A green and vibrant lawn can make any garden stand out, but to keep it to the required standard is not an easy task. If you are a semi-experienced gardener or a garden aficionado, were sure by now you know that the lawn care never really ends.
During the wet winter months, the lawn is exposed to a massive amount of rainfall, often leading to waterlogging. This encourages the moss build-up, making the lawn appear weak. Moss can be controlled by scarifying, but that can produce larger patches needing overseeding.
Another reason for a patchy appearance can be grass dieback, weed removal, petrol spill and even overuse of lawn fertiliser.
Manual weed removal will produce a small patch in the lawn. Dont worry if you find several smaller or larger bare spots in your lawn, the repair is quite simple and can be resolved by overseeding.
What To Do If Your Lawn Is Actually Dead
Is your lawn grass already dead? Am sure you are looking for ideas on how to revive a dead lawn.
If your grass is dead, you will need to start over again.
Filling the patches of dead grass can be easier compared to replacing full lawns.
The following steps will help you in going about the process of reviving dead lawn
- Rake up the dead grass so that you are left with soil only
- Loosen the soil to allow better aeration and nutrient penetration
- Spread the lawn seeds and compost on the tilled soil
- Apply either natural or chemical fertilizer
- Water and mulch the soil with healthy grass clippings or leaves for more nutrients
- Maintain the new lawn with proper sunlight & water so that it can grow.
- Allow the lawn some few weeks to grow then fill the patches if there will be any.
Lush green and healthy lawn is always attractive and it adds aesthetic value to our living areas. Its always refreshing when you are relaxing in a neat and well maintained lawn. Therefore, do not let your dying lawn make your home look dull and deserted. Use the above tips that I have provided on how to revive a dying lawn and how to revive a dead lawn to give your fading lawn a new and attractive look.
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Identify The Weeds You Have
In order to make a successful game plan, youll need to know just what kind of weeds youre dealing with. Weed treatments are designed to target specific weeds, so what may work on your broadleaf weeds may leave your grass-like weeds A-OK.
Weeds come in multiple categories, either broadleaf, grass-like, or grassy.
Broadleaf
- Common types: Clover, ground ivy, dandelions, chickweed
Grass-like
- Appearance: Similar to grass, with hollow leaves in a triangular or tube shape
- Common types: Nutsedge, wild garlic, wild onion
Grassy
- Appearance: Resembles grass, grows one leaf at a time
- Common types: Foxtail, annual bluegrass, quackgrass, crabgrass
Weeds can be broken down further into categories based on their life cycleannual, biennial, or perennial.
- Annual: Produces seeds during one season only
- Biennial: Produces seeds during two back-to-back seasons
- Perennial: Produces seeds over many seasons
First: Scarify The Lawn
Scarifying means raking the lawn with a stiff, wire-tined lawn rake or you can hire a mechanical scarifier. What this does is scratch through the grass plants dragging out the thatch and moss. The thatch is the partially dead horizontal shoots and leaves of grass which collect beneath the grass plants on the soil surface. These are very tough and tend to resist water, keeping it away from the grass roots. As thatch builds up it competes with the growing grass.
Often thatch occurs in patches causing a condition known as dry patch. Get rid of the thatch and you solve the problem.
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How To Rejuvenate A Lawn
After a long Ottawa Winter many people realize that their lawn is looking a little rough once the snow has melted and that they may need to repair it before the beginning of the season. Many factors contribute to the grass not looking quite up to par in the Spring. You need not despair as there are several effective options available to rejuvenate your lawns look and health.
I know that very few want golf putting greens, but most want at least a decent looking lawn. Lawn that will be green, full and thick enough not to be overrun by weeds and ground covers like clover.
The are four options that we suggest to our clients and that can really improve the health and look of your lawn are:
Select A Proper Herbicide
Next, its time to select the proper weed treatment based on both weed classification and the stage in their life cycle. Pre-emergent herbicides tackle weed issues before they spring up. Post-emergent herbicides target established weeds.
Keep in mind that herbicides can kill whatever plant life they come into contact witheven if the label says otherwiseso handle with care. If your aim is to re-establish your lawn, as we recommend, killing your existing, thinning grass isnt a big deal, since you will need to start fresh anyway.
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When Should I Overseed Or Reseed The Lawn
You might have come across some advice to overseed or reseed the lawn in the autumn. The ground remains warm and the air temperature still allows the seeds to germinate. However, when winter fast approaches, the lawn will not have sufficient time to re-establish, and your efforts will go to waste.
We recommend overseeding and reseeding the lawn at the beginning or throughout the growing season. This way your lawn will have enough time to be fully restored. However, you should ensure proper irrigating is carried out.
- Entire lawn
What Time Of Day Is Best To Fertilise A Lawn
Avoid fertilising your lawn beneath the midday sun
The best time of day to fertilise a lawn is generally the early evening. Lawn fertiliser can be strong stuff and if applied when the sun is high in the sky and air temperatures are hot, it can begin to burn.
A final note is to add fertiliser after mowing this gives the fertiliser time to really do its job in-between cuts.
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Determining The Cause Of A Dead Lawn
When your grass turns brown and dry, either on parts of your lawn or across the whole area, you may be itching to lay down new sod or start another plan to revive your lawn. But if you want your new lawn to last, you first have to determine the cause of death for the old lawn. If you dont fix what was wrong, you may find yourself staring at another dead lawn in the near future. There are a few common causes of dead patches or dead lawns, and it may take some detective work to find which one is responsible for your dead lawn.
Grubs And Other Pests
You know there are grubs in your lawn when your grass starts turning brown and is pulled up easily in the summer months. You may also notice animals like raccoons trying to dig up your lawn. Grubs can be an annoyance, especially when you are restoring your lawn.
They feed on the roots of grass and can cause a lot of damage. Grubs are white in color with a brown head and curl into a C shape. To confirm whether there are grubs in your lawn, dig up several pieces of soil. If you find five or fewer grubs per square foot, there is no need for control measures.
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Feed Your Lawn Regularly
Nothing brings existing foliage in the garden back to life like a good quality feed. Some feeds are designed specifically for the lawn, which are great if your lawn is moss and weed-free, and others have added ingredients to kill unwanted fungi, weeds and moss for quick results. Some are designed for the spring to promote new growth, and others are for toughening up your autumn grass in time for winter.
Not all feeds are pet-friendly, so check the packaging beforehand or ask the supplier. Chemical-free weed killing alternatives include boiling water which may also affect your grass so its not ideal vinegar, salt and sugar.
Whatever feed you choose, spread from April through to September for extended growth and health. Try a liquid feed from later spring into summer to feed as well as moisten your lawn during dry spells, then opt for a gentler feed which is low in nitrogen in autumn which wont speed up growth and leave new shoots susceptible to winter frosts.
