Your lawn guide for a healthy turf!
Who doesn't long for a lush, healthy & deep green lawn! We take you through our handy lawn calendar with a plan of action and a checklist of monthly lawn chores! So your lawn stays in top condition all year round!
Leave the lawn dormant for a while in January. Especially during frosty weather, it is important not to walk on the lawn. The grass blades are very fragile then, so they can easily break off. Moreover, in winter the lawn is also more susceptible to (fungal) diseases, such as snow mould.
Has King Winter already left the country in February? Then you can carefully get started! Good soil is the best foundation, so start by measuring the pH of your lawn. The ideal acidity level is between 6 and 6.7. Is the pH lower than 6? Then your soil is (slightly) acidified. This is due to the acid rain that the lawn regularly gets. Fortunately, you can quickly restore the pH level by spreading lime.
Tip from Marcel:
Choose lawn lime that also has added magnesium. This ensures that beautiful deep green colour! Is the pH value higher than 7, on the other hand? Then you need peat to raise the acidity level! Too high a pH value hinders the absorption of nutrients by the lawn.
Once your lawn has reached the perfect pH level, you can get started with spring fertiliser! Always wait at least 2 weeks between liming & fertilising for the fertiliser to work optimally. Otherwise the nutrients of your fertiliser will not be absorbed properly, and that's a waste of your product & money! February is the perfect month to give your lawn a growth boost with nitrogen-rich spring fertiliser. Moreover, the spring fertiliser also contains a dose of magnesium for that beautiful green colour! You can distribute the lawn fertiliser quickly, easily & evenly thanks to a fertiliser spreader.
During March, your lawnmower or lawn robot can also get back from winter shed! Wait until the temperature reaches 7°C to 10°C. Let the mower restart gently by mowing the lawn fortnightly. From April, you may up the mowing regime to weekly. Even in March, your lawn still benefits from spring fertilisation!
After that long winter period, your lawn could probably use a refresh! Rid your pelouse of its dry winter layer, and get to work with the scarifier! Before aerating, always treat your lawn with an antimoss product! Moss is a spore plant and is only too happy to take over your lawn. By treating the moss first, you avoid spreading it further during scarification. Go to our blog "Scarify your lawn healthily" for more tips! Don't be alarmed: after scarifying, your lawn is not a pretty picture! Touch up small bald spots with a repair mixture. Are you suffering from large, rough patches in your lawn? Then reach for a play and sports mixture! That way, weeds or street grasses won't have a chance to nestle in between your turf!
Give your lawn an extra boost after re-seeding by fertilising it. However, do not opt for a nitrogen-rich fertiliser here because it will give your lawn a growth boost, but can also burn the seeds & young grass blades! A recovery fertiliser, on the other hand, provides the perfect germination environment for the grass seeds, such as Viano Recovery fertiliser or DCM Lawn Feed Recovery.
The garden is getting greener & coming to life, but unfortunately so are the weeds! Weed the lawn & your garden regularly. Thanks to a weed puller, you save your back and can easily pull out the weeds.
From May the mowing season really starts, unless you participate in Mowing May Not of course! The lawn can now be mowed once or twice a week, however, do not weed the lawn too short to avoid burning now that the sun is showing itself more and more often! Moreover, a play lawn gets a lot of wear and tear, so leave the grass blades about 4 cm long. Change direction while mowing so that the grass blades do not lie completely flat to one side.
A lawn robot processes the clippings directly into mulch which also fertilises your soil during mowing, which is handy!
From May, the cockchafer also flutters around happily again. You can spot them especially just before sunset when they fly up from the lawn. There they lay their eggs that hatch 4 to 6 weeks later. However, it is these larvae, better known as grubs, that do a lot of damage underground! The larvae feed on the roots of your lawn, leaving your lawn barren & with bare spots. You can of course control these grubs thanks to nematodes. Read more in our blog "Three remedies for grubs in your lawn".
There's summer! The period when we enjoy our garden the most, but the lawn takes it a bit harder. Extreme drought, lots of sun & intense treading put your lawn to the test. The spring fertiliser has worn off by now, so the grass could use a new boost with summer fertiliser.
Also, weeds are still popping up between your blades of grass so keep up the faithful weeding! This will prevent the weeds from taking over your lawn, especially since selective weed killers are no longer on the market.
Preferably water your lawn in the early morning. The sun is not yet at its peak then, so the water evaporates less & so you don't have to face that scorching heat either! You can water by hand or with a Oscillating Sprinkler, the latter distributing the moisture evenly across your lawn. You can also install a drip system underground and set the watering schedule on a smart device. This way, your lawn will be watered automatically!
September is a busy month for lawn lovers. There is a lot on the agenda to give your lawn a green makeover after the hot summer.
So there are a lot of "snags" like grubs and leatherjackets that plague your lawn. You can recognise grubs by their curly posture. The fat larvae have a yellowish-white colour and feast on the root system of your lawn. Leatherjackets, on the other hand, do not eat the roots, but the grass itself. However, the result is the same: a bare & damaged lawn. Thanks to nematodes, you can control the undercreepers naturally. Read more about it here.
From mid-August, all grubs' eggs hatch, so the autumn treatment should not be missed! This treatment ensures that you get rid of the small larvae. Attention: to keep the nematodes alive, the soil temperature should be min. 12°C. Is the soil still warm enough in September and October? Then feel free to still treat the lawn with nematodes! Even a rainy week is ideal to tackle your lawn as the nematodes need a lot of moisture to penetrate the soil.
Are you not bothered by hungry larvae, but rather by a dry and yellow lawn? Then give your pelouse an airy haircut by ridding it of its thatch layer, which consists of weeds, moss and dead grass. After scarifying, your lawn can breathe again! Learn the tricks of the trade here. Remember to treat your lawn with an antimoss product, such as Bio-press or Moscide, before scarifying, otherwise you will spread the moss further during scarification. t is important that the soil temperature is at least 15°C for these products to work.
If you want to be pretty, you have to suffer. Although the grass does not suffer from scarification, it is not a pretty picture to see afterwards. Fill the small bald spots with repair lawn. Large bald spots can be sown with the rock-solid Ultra Resist or Bar Power RPR grass seed. Want to enjoy a full & green lawn right away? Then now is the time to lay grass mats. Do you want to roll up your sleeves yourself? Then click here for our step-by-step plan for laying turf or sowing a lawn yourself!
Thanks to lawn lime, you can neutralise acidic soil and prevent moss growth. Boost your lawn with potassium-rich autumn fertiliser so that your pelouse survives autumn and winter well. This way, the grass is more resistant to the cold and weeds cannot nestle between the lawn. Read more about the benefits of lawn fertiliser in our blog. Always wait 2 weeks to fertilise your lawn after liming. After scarifying & re-seeding, Recovery fertiliser is then again recommended for good rooting.
Leatherjackets, the larvae of the crane fly, also continue for a while in October. The larvae are still small now, so this is the perfect time to tackle them with nematodes. Would you like to read more about how nematodes work? Then visit our blog here! Again, a soil temperature of min 12°C is essential. Usually, you can treat the lawn until mid-October, after which it gets too cold. However, this is only a general guideline because it is the soil temperature that counts!
The first leaves are getting an orange glow and letting go of the trees. Better get out that leaf rake and rake the leaves together so you are not left with a mottled lawn, or even worse: a lawn suffocated by foliage!
The leaves whirl down from the trees in droves now, and lay a golden blanket over your lawn. So keep raking!
Don't throw away the "green waste" though, because the foliage is precious mulch for your borders! This mulch forms a protective layer against the upcoming (freezing) cold. Moreover, the foliage contains a lot of nutrients that are released to the soil during the digestion process. To speed up that process, you can finely shred the leaves. The extra layer also means less weeding and is the perfect hiding place for many garden animals that are hibernating. Definitely do it! (Psst, want more tips on how to help garden animals through the winter? Then be sure to click here!).
Keep mowing the lawn until the temperature dips below 5°C, when the grass stops growing. Usually, the lawnmower may leave the garden shed for the last time at the end of November. During the last mowing, don't weed your lawn too short and raise the lawn mower one setting to 5 cm.
Time for your robotic lawnmower or regular lawn mower to go into winter storage, but not without another thorough maintenance! Give the grass robot a good polish and replace blunt blades with new sharp ones.
By the way, did you know that how quickly your blades become blunt also depends on the type of lawn you have in your garden? For instance, a rougher & firm lawn, like Water Saver, will cause you to need to replace the blades faster.
Store the robotic mower and charging station in a frost-free & dry place. Thanks to our handy wall brackets, you can easily hang the grass robot on the wall, saving you a lot of space in your garden shed. Also protect the ends of the connectors from winter weather with a special cable protector.
