Lawncare Tips & Advice

Lawn Blog – January

January – Don’t forget your lawn

Christmas is over and some of us may have gained a few pounds, but are not quite ready to commit to regular trips to the local gym. Well that’s not a problem because there’s a fantastic gym right outside – your garden. While January is a quiet time in the lawn care calendar there are still one or two really useful things you can be doing to get you and your lawn back into shape.

We often hear the complaint that “it’s too wet to mow the lawn” along with the notion that you don’t need to mow just now. Well, as far as we’re concerned if it’s growing, don’t stop mowing. Yes of course, a wet lawn makes things difficult so here’s a simple solution to mitigate that:

  • First you can actually remove some of that wetness using a leaf blower or even a simple besom broom. Then, if you mow during the least wet part of the day, mid-afternoon when the sun is out, you should have no problems. Just keep the cut high, around 2”, and make sure your blade is sharp.
  • As well as keeping the lawn trim, it’s really important to keep an eye on those pesky leaves. What used to be an autumn job can easily stretch into the new year thanks to our milder winters. Look on fallen leaves as a gift as you can just move them to the compost where they will break down into valuable nutrients for your garden. Don’t leave them on the lawn where they can encourage disease and kill the grass.
  • Unless you’re in the middle of a frozen cold snap, now is a great time to sort out all those lawn bald patches. Laying new turf can be an all-year job if the conditions are right and doing it now will save you valuable time in the spring when everything else in the garden starts demanding your attention.
  • Moss can be a nuisance even at this time of year, especially if we’ve had a lot of rain. We always recommend control and prevention rather than waiting until you have a serious problem. In January you can use a liquid or soluble moss control to get a head start, and then continue to monitor any moss growing throughout the year. If you apply moss control on a drizzly or wet day it will soak into your lawn even faster.

All of these tasks are of course weather dependent, but they’re all worth doing when you get the chance. Then if all this movement helps get you back into shape, what’s to lose?




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