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Tuesday, 13 September 2011

All About - Lawns - How to keep lawns, diseases, problems and tips.

In England were big fans of lawns. Its not really considered a garden if you don't have grass!!!



A lot of people however, make the common misconception that having a lawn means not much work to do in the garden. WRONG!!! A lawn is in fact the highest maintenance material in a garden. 
To keep a good lawn you should be mowing it regularly in the growing season. Ideally this means:
March - Early May = 1 cut per fortnight
May - September = 1 cut per week
October and November = 1 cut per fortnight
If its a very mild winter there are no hard fast rules to say you shouldn't mow your lawn. It may just churn up a bit of mud though.
Do not cut your lawn if there is any hint of a frost!!!
Mowing heights vary, but your first cut of the year should be a long one getting shorter gradually over the weeks. You should try not to take off more than a third of the grass sward (leaf) as it can cause shock, but Ive never seen this and I mow lawns every day of every week!

Feed your lawns. Grass is like any other plant and needs looking after now and again.
In spring feed it with a nitrogen rich feed. Nitrogen helps promote strong top growth and greens up a lawn.
In autumn feed with a strong potassium formula. Potassium feeds the roots and makes them strong for hibernating over winter. Grass stops growing below 10 degrees.
Normally the feed will come with a selective weed killer and moss killer mixed in. The pack will have a formula N/P/K. Anyone who remembers physics will know this stands for nitrogen/phosphorus/potassium.

If you have lawn edges give these a trim when you mow as it will make it look a million time neater!


Don't use these kind of shears though as they're shit. Just hoe afterwards to neaten things up.

Lawn Diseases


I first came across a lawn disease about 3 years ago called red thread, which is a fungus. I read up on the subject a great deal and did everything they recommended to get rid of it including a regular feeding regime, scaryfying, hollow tining to reduce compaction in the soil. Nothing worked so I resorted to fungicides and although it is not completely gone it is under control.


Red thread will not kill your lawn, but it does look unsightly if it takes over. It is more common than you think as I have noticed it on my local council football fields and more recently and much more surprisingly on lawns at RHS Kew Gardens in London!!!
Another serious fungus I have come across is fusarium patch (snow mould). Now this can kill your lawn. It looks like brown circles of dead grass and feels slimy to the touch. A good blast of a fungicide called chipco green, a bit of re-seeding and all was well.

The most common problem you will probably face is bitch scorch. This is where a female dog pees on the grass and the high nitrogen content of the urine causes the grass to grow lots on the outside, but kills it in the middle as it is too high a concentration.


Most lawns will grow weeds as well as grass with the most common being clover and dandelions. Kill these using a selective weedkiller that only kills broad leaved weeds. The amount of times I have arrived at a job and the client has used a normal weedkiller and the lawn looks like a big spotted mess!!! The one I use and is very effective is called Verdone.

I could go on and on about aerating and scarifying and other techniques and diseases and pests, but your unlikely to notice the difference to be quite honest so ill leave it at that.

Continuing Fame!!!

After my interview on live radio I have appeared in the Yorkshire Evening Post once again.
Apparently I was mentioned on magic FM too!!!!

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/latest-news/central-leeds/west_leeds_gardener_wins_top_award_1_3762970

Sunday, 11 September 2011

Friday, 9 September 2011

Fame at last!!

Tom was on BBC Radio Leeds this morning, did you hear him? If not, listen again on the iplayer at
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00jy198
He is on at around 46 minutes for around 5 minutes in total!!
 

Wednesday, 7 September 2011

**********************NEWS FLASH******************************

Tom won the Ronseal Garden Guru competition!!!
He had to travel to Kew Gardens yesterday to be presented with his prize cheque of £1000 and pose for photos so expect to see him in your local media soon starting with a radio interview on BBC radio Leeds this Friday at 9.30am!!!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ronseal-UK/204245726266058

As you may already know Tom entered a competition run by Ronseal to find a new, young 'Garden Guru'. He made it to the final 10 and this afternoon the winner is announced. Fingers crossed people!!


This was my entry. It is my own garden, which was just wild grass when I moved in. I wanted a work shed and a couple of seating areas and have also built raised areas and now grow fruit and vegetables.

Welcome!!!!

Welcome to the all new Chase Gardening and Landscaping blog!!

Here we will be talking about current work, problems encountered and how we overcame them, posting pictures and even providing some usefull hints and tips if your thinking of starting a gardening or landscaping project yourself.