How to Prepare Your Lawn for Maximum Growth and Lushness

If you have been to an abattoir or a farm, you will find that all animals raised for commercial purposes have one thing in common: they undergo a fattening phase. This fattening phase is what makes them ready for the market and makes them a buyer’s choice. So, what does this have to do with preparing your lawn?

Everything! Like every natural process, there is a time for “fattening”; and to get the best from your lawn, you should “fatten” the soil in preparation for the next 1 year. Lawns are best prepared in the fall when the weather is quite clement and nothing really interferes with the processes in the soil.

Now that you know this, how do you go about “fattening” your lawn?

1. Get Rid of the Thatch

Getting rid of the thatch is usually the first step to getting your lawn ready. In case you are wondering, thatch is the brown build up caused by dead grass stems and crowns. Usually, this isn’t noticeable until you look closely at the grass.

Please note that thatch in itself is good as it helps the soil stay moist and acts as mulch. But as with all things, too much of it is bad for your lawn. So, when should you do this? When it is about 5mm thick. You can do this using a ground rake and hand cultivator. If the turf is wide and you want to save time, get a dethatcher that can be fitted to the mower.

2. Add Fertilizer

This is the feeding stage. All you have to do is add some fertilizer. If you want the best results, you will need to do these four times a year. But if not, concentrating on “feeding” your soil during autumn is the best option, this is because lawn grasses concentrate more on root growth in autumn than on leaf growth.

You can be sure that if the root is healthy, chances are that the grass leaves will also be healthy. Look specifically for fertilisers used before winter –some call it “winterisers”. These are fertilisers that are primed to help facilitate good growth and help sustain the grass through the harsh period of winter.

If you prefer organic fertilisers, you could easily spread 2mm of compost on the lawn or other organic alternatives.

3. Aerate the Soil and Eliminate Weeds

Aerating the soil is best during the fall. So, in addition to dethatching and adding fertilizer, aerate the soil. You can do this by getting an aerator that you will attach to your mower. If the lawn is hilly or tough, you can use a core aerator machine. These help bite up small chunks of soil, thus loosening the soil in compacted regions and providing the required free flow of air.

Also, get rid of the weeds during this period too. You can do this by applying herbicides if the weeds are extensive. However, if they are concentrated in a small area, you can weed them out using your hands.

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Various Ways to Remove Lawn Grubs and Weeds From Your Lawn

So, who is winning; your beautiful grass or the weeds? Weeds can be very annoying and frustrating. It is even more so when you notice them a few months after installing your sod or lawn. Assuming they were like the typical weeds –like those you find in the garden- then it wouldn’t be that difficult to get rid of them.

Unfortunately, they are worse! Weed prevention and elimination is a very broad topic, but we will try to cover as much as possible in this article.
There are many ways to get rid of weeds from your lawns. These include

Try to identify them

The first thing you need to do is to identify these weeds. There are usually two broad groups of lawn weeds. These include the weedy grasses e.g. quack grass, crabgrass and annual bluegrass and the broad weeds e.g. knot weed, dandelion and clover among many others.

This might look like too much work, but as some wise guy said, “know your enemies”. Besides it isn’t too much work as they aren’t that many.

Get Rid of all Compacted Areas

This basically means loosen them. Sometimes, weeds growing can be a sign of a compacted soil. For example, knot weed thrives very well in compacted soil.

And when you weed them out without loosening that part of the lawn, you will find that the growth of lawn grasses there will be minimal until the weed starts growing again and takes over that part of the soil. You can loosen the soil by using a core aerator machine or by attaching an aerator to your mower.

Use Preemergence Herbicides

These are herbicides that you spray on the soil before the weeds germinate. This herbicide is better sprayed on annual lawn weeds and is more effective in their treatment and elimination.

It is important to note that this might affect germinating seeds, so ask your lawn care expert about it before using it. If you have crabgrass on your lawns, it better applied between the 5th and 20th of May.

Use Post emergence Herbicides

If the weeds have started their growth but are still in the young phase, applying post emergence herbicides will help kill them off. Usually, this form of herbicide is better used as sprays as the weeds need to absorb the compounds through the leaves for it to be effective.

The thing with this however, is that it may adversely affect the lawn grasses if you don't know how to use it. So, homeowners who want to kill the weeds by themselves are often advised to use the granular forms.

Use Biological Weeding Methods

This is basically weeding using your hands or manually. This is very effective and can really reduce the risks of using herbicides. Hand weeding usually takes a lot of time; in fact more time than spraying herbicides and other weed killers. But when done properly, the results are longer lasting.

There are many other methods, but these are like the crux of the weed elimination process. Try them today and your lawn will look the better for it.

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