Lawncare Tips & Advice

Tips on How to Keep Grass Green

green lawn

Nothing brings a garden together like a vibrant, green lawn. Some lawn owners make the mistake of believing that once their grass starts to dull, there’s no way back. But you’ll be glad to hear that all it needs to be restored is some care and attention.

To help you out, we’ve compiled some useful lawn care tips. Follow our advice on how to keep grass green and you’ll soon be on your way to a thick, green lawn that all your neighbours will be envious of.

Let’s get started with what you’ll need…

Materials:

Tools:

Before you start

As these tips include the use of tools, ensure you’re comfortable with how to use them and take a look at our DIY Safety Tips. Also be careful when using grass feed and fertiliser.

 

Tackle those yellow patches

Yellow patches can be fixed by mowing more frequently but on a higher blade setting. This will prevent you from cutting off too much of the grass leaf.

If the grass blades are turning yellow along the veins (near the bottom), your grass may have an iron deficiency. This can be fixed with a spray-on liquid iron supplement.

Applying fertiliser incorrectly can cause what was once healthy, green grass to turn yellow. If you have over-applied it, just water the area thoroughly to wash away any residual fertiliser into the soil.

 

Regularly trim your lawn

lawn mowing

Before mowing, ensure your lawn is fairly dry to help achieve a clean cut. Keep your mower blades sharpened and mow little and often to avoid letting your grass grow out. When this happens, you’re at risk of removing too much leaf blade in one go – which will impact your lawn’s ability to make food.

The Winter months is when you’re most at risk of losing your green lawn. Instead of putting your lawn mower away for months on end, give it an occasional cut on those cold, crisp days.

Lawn care tip: Mowers with a mulching plug will cut the clippings very finely and then return them to the lawn as a valuable nutrient.

Aerate and scarify to prevent moss

Aeration and scarification are two more important steps in maintaining a green lawn.

The aim of aeration is to create small channels down into the soil to allow air to circulate, prevent compaction and enable water, air and nutrients to reach the roots.

The best time to aerate your lawn is usually late Spring/ early Autumn (when your grass is growing). Take a look at our How to Aerate a Lawn guide to find out exactly how.

Lawn care tip: Avoid mid-Summer or very dry conditions, as you don’t want the newly opened soil to dry out.

Scarification is key to preventing the lawn from getting too dense, which can then cause major moss problems.

Keep on top on top of this by simply raking or combing through the sward to remove the dead organic matter that forms the thatch layer.

Lawn care tip: Both these techniques will leave your lawn looking a little worse for wear – but don’t panic, it will recover and contribute to the health of your green lawn.  

Use a fertiliser to feed your lawn

lawn fertiliser

Everyone with a green lawn will have a seasonal fertiliser feeding plan – as at different times of the year, your grass will have different needs.

For example, a high nitrogen feed is best applied in Spring/Summer to encourage growth. Whereas a high potash feed is best applied in Autumn to help strengthen the grass roots in time for Winter.

Lawn care tip: It’s important to read the instructions for each fertiliser, so you know how to apply it and get the most out of it.

 

Water your garden

A healthy and well-maintained green lawn will not need much watering, but sometimes nature needs a helping hand. Sprinklers are great for convenience and come with a range of adjustable settings. For smaller lawns, a hosepipe with a spray attachment will be more accurate and use less water overall.

Lawn care tip: Water in the early mornings and the evenings when the temperatures are lower, as the grass will be able to absorb more of the water.

Add grass seed

lawn food

If your grass looks thin or bare in most places, spread grass feed all over (but don’t use too much). For larger bare spots, put down the grass seed and then cover lightly with straw to prevent the sun from damaging the seeds and to protect birds from eating them.

And those are our lawn care tips on how to keep grass green! If you want to work on your lawn further, check out our ways to get rid of moss and weeds.



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