When passing a golf course, the fairways and greens always look so magnificent, or they should do.

How is this attained by Course Superintendents? By diligent maintenance, mowing regimes, nutritional applications, irrigation, and the applications for weed , pest and disease control. The average Green Keeper will inspect their grass at least daily and sometimes more often, maintaining good weather records and logging unusual occurrences.

The average home gardener, will pay special attention to their flowers, vegetable gardens and indoor plants. Fertilizing, watering, weed control, pest and disease inspections done daily, the lawn grass gets little or no attention. Little attention is given to the lawn grass, it is a multiple of plants, crowded together, competing with their neighbours, fighting for moisture and nutrients. The plants multiply by shooting stolons or rhizomes, and in the conglomerate of roots, attempt to find sufficient space to acquire their own food supply.

Good lawn grass, needs attention as much as, if not more than, the other plants in the garden and indoors. Due to the competition between plants, special attention paid to nutritional needs, moisture levels and weed control is of the utmost importance. The attention to detail and the messages the plants will display, need constant observation.

To attain a good healthy lawn grass, that will be the envy of the neighbours, consumes time. Attention to detail, regular mowing, irrigating, fertilising, and controls, become an exercise in nurturance. Firstly, a regular mowing regime is essential, the grass will learn the height control, and will grow lateral leaves, for a sufficient structure for photosynthesis. The grass will become a dense mat of growth, that kept at a constant height, will present a good healthy structure.

However, to attain this, sufficient nutrients must always be available in the root zone, the use of slow release fertilizers be investigated. Obviously, if a laboratory is available to test soil samples, this would be advantageous, most labs, knowing what grass is being grown, will be able to supply a fertilizer program, with suggestions of which fertilizer to use and how often. Maintaining these levels, becomes a guessing game, if there is excessive rain, the result could be the leaching of the nutrients from the soil. But it is a good start, and with experience, the grass will give telling signs of the shortages it is experiencing. A Green Keeper will tell you “the grass tells me what it needs, and I apply it”.

The moisture requirements of the plant is important and records of precipitation, how much and when, need kept. Determining the moisture requirements will depend on the grass type, and the soil structure in which it is being grown. Weed control a necessity, grass will not tolerate competition from weeds, and in most cases will rather give up than fight. Pest control can become expensive, yet today so many sites on the internet can supply you with cheap alternatives to the expensive chemical controls practiced by Golf Courses.

Attention to the soil structure, undertaken once or twice a year, depending on your domicile. Good soil structure is important for deep root growth, the deeper the roots the healthier the plant. Drainage and water retaining properties of the soils need maintaining, for the requirements of the plant. So an aeration programme, and dependant on the soils, a hollow coring exercise could be required. Remember a good footing, or base, is essential to good health, not only to plants, but in the human as well. Sore feet, or damaged feet, will require the sufferer to use a wheel chair, do not do this to your plant.

Other practices that may require attention, thatch control, grass thinning or scarifying, top soiling and over seeding. There is so much you can do to improve the lawn, so afford the lawn grass the attention it needs and see the difference. Climb the ladder of success, and have a good presentable lawn.

As a Green Keeper, I can only afford you portions of my experience, but aspiring to have a lawn that closely equates your local golf course, is a good goal. It can become expensive, but the reward is worth it. Purchase a book on Golf Course maintenance, the practices and programmes will help enormously. I am writing a book on Golf Course Maintenance, and I am aiming at the non professional Green Keeper, but rather writing about the practical experience I have gain from the “school of hard knocks”.