Lawn care

During normal weather conditions in temperate climates, the grass on lawns will need cutting every seven to ten days and every five days if the grass mixture is a really fine one and the turf of bowling-green texture.

If the grass is cut less often, much greater length of grass blade is removed from each grass plant per mowing. The fine grasses do not respond well to this occasional severe cutting, with the result that the coarse grasses have less to compete with and so flourish. The end product is a lawn consisting mainly of rye grass, annual meadow grass, creeping bent, even couch and an increasing proportion of weeds and moss.

Cutting very frequently, on the other hand, weakens the coarse grasses and encourages the finer ones. Since much of the mixture which provides a fine lawn consists of sheep’s fescue, this is not surprising; the fescue originates on hills and downs cropped continuously by sheep, rabbits and other grazing animals, so that over the centuries these grasses have developed constitutions which ensure their survival in the face of such attacks.

A good height at which to keep the grass is 1cm (1/2 in) if it is really fine, otherwise 2cm (3/4in) will be short enough. The best finish will be obtained with a mower which has about 8-10 blades on the cutting cylinder. The current view on removing grass cuttings is that mowing should be done with a collecting box or bag attached to the mower, otherwise the mowings lying on the lawn surface encourage worms, spread weeds and prevent aeration, but in dry weather they can be left to act as a minor mulch.

Late spring is one of the best times to treat lawn weeds with a selective hormone weedkiller, since the weeds will be growing fast and the chemical will be rapidly absorbed and equally rapidly spread round the plant in the sap. Feeding the lawn in mid-spring will have encouraged growth in any case. Use the weedkiller evenly, whether in solid or liquid form; in general, apply it about two days after the last cut, and leave two or three days at least before the next cut. Hormone weedkillers are extremely potent, and whether you are using a solution or powder form, it is essential to choose a calm, windless day for application.