Lawn Care, The Essential Jobs

In order to maintain your newly laid lawn from Colchester Turf, there are some essential tasks that must be carried out on a regular basis

1. Mowing In order to maintain a good quality lawn mowing should start approximatly in March and finish in October, these are approximate times which will vary with the prevailing weather conditions. As a general rule grass should be cut twice a week during the height of the summer growing season and once a week during the spring and autumn. Again this rule depends greatly on the weather, during prolonged dry spells in the summer mowing should be reduced to once a week. Infrequent grass cutting can lead to grass shock as large amounts of the leaf are removed. If your grass has grown tall it is advisable to reduce its height by cutting over a number of days rather than in one sudden burst. Mowing is best carried out when the grass leaves are dry as mowing wet grass may lead to tearing of the leaves and clogging of the mower. The recomended height of cut for a good quality general perpose utility lawn is 1.25in/3cms in spring, autumn or drought conditions and 1in/2.5cms in summer. For a top quailty luxury lawn these cutting heights would be 0.75in/2cms in spring, autumn and drought conditions and 0.5in/1.25cms in summer.
2. Watering, Irrigation One square metre of lush green grass can lose up to 4.5 gallons/20 litres of water per week in hot sunny conditions via transpiration. East Anglia is one of the driest regions in the Uk and Colchester turf is grown from a specially selected seed mix in order to produce turf that is suited to local weather conditions. However grass is a plant and it will die without water, average rainfall in East Anglia  is usually sufficient to maintain a lawn but during very prolonged dry spells the need for extra water may arise. Although normal lawn grasses are not often killed by drought in Britain, the stress caused by prolonged lack of water can weaken the grass and allow more drought resistant plants such as yarrow and clover to flourish and spread through the lawn. In dry conditions watering should take place in the early morning or late evening in order to reduce water loss due to evaporation. The lawn should be watered with about 3cms of water all over and should be allowed to dry out slightly between waterings in order to encourage good root growth. This may be required up to twice a week during very dry conditions.
3. Feeding, Fertilizer Rapid grass growth and frequent mowing can lead to diminishing reserves of plant nutrients in the soil. Starvation of nutrients results in sparse and thin grass, allowing the proliforation of weed plants. Feeding with a nitrogen rich fertilizer at the start of the growing season, spring or early summer will replenish soil nutrients.