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.
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