My 5 tips for a lush looking lawn — Jess Holcombe Garden Design

A lush green lawn for most people is a central aspect of the garden, which can make dead patches even more frustrating.

In this blog I am going to share my 5 top tips to maintaining a healthy established lawn and what you can do to fix those unsightly brown spots.

Watering

Whilst you can water your lawn during the summer months to prevent it going brown, unless this is essential I would urge you to re-consider this.

Most established lawns will go brown during very hot weather, this is normal. The grass roots are usually fine and as soon as wetter weather returns the lawn will re-grow green.

However, if your lawn is recently laid, or you have sown new seed in patches it will be important to not let this become dry as grass seed will still be putting down roots.

Aerate

This is essentially putting holes into your lawn to receive any compacted soil and improve air and water circulation which will allow the grass to take more nutrients and growing deeper roots.

You don’t need fancy kit, just a garden fork to puncture the surface of the soil. Doing this in spring or autumn is an ideal time as there is more rainfall, the ground is softer to penetrate and the grass is under less stress when the weather is cooler.

Scarifying

If your lawn is at least three years old and generally growing well scarifying can be a good way to manage dead patches of grass and moss build up.

Using a scarifier in spring will remove the old/dead patches of grass leaving space for new growth to appear. It is important not to scarify when the ground is very wet or very dry and hot as this can damage the roots of the grass and lead to more problems.

Mowing

How frequently you mow your lawn is a personal preference, however over mowing can over-stress your grass.

During the winter we often see high rainfall, mowing when the ground is wet is likely to rip up the lawn and cause damage to the roots.

Equally during the heigh of summer, in period of drought mowing your grass weekly is likely to cause your grass to turn brown. Reducing your mowing to 2-3 weekly during the hot weather will gibe your grass more resilience and reduce the likelihood of it turning brown.

Pets

Dog urine is high in nitrogen and without watering down will scorch the grass. The odd time may not cause a huge problem as grass can recover.

However, if your dog has a favourite spot the grass will not get a chance to re-cover and a permeant dead patch is likely to appear. In this instance there are a few options;

If you notice your dog urinating on your lawn have a watering can handy and water this down immediately. This will significantly reduce the damage to the lawn.
Train your dog to use an area that is less visible and keep the damage to a limited area;
However, if your lawn is your pride and joy I would recommend minimising your dog using it as a toilet all together!
Finally, you are due to lay new lawn, consider laying turf that is harder wearing and can better manage the odd dog urine (just please be aware no grass will tolerate repeated exposure to dog urine!).

Repair

If your grass has died in patches and hasn’t recovered with more rainfall or watering then it might be time to re-seed. Doing this in spring or autumn is usually best as temperatures are not too hot or too cold.

To re-seed your lawn but sure to remove the dead/damaged grass before you sow any new seed.
Cutting out the damaged patch exposing the soil will give your new seed the best chance. Dig over the area to loosen the soil and then firm the ground gently to create a level surface.
Sow the seed onto the ground and sprinkle with top soil. Don’t be tempted to throw lots of seed down as this can just lead to the grass seed dying as there isn’t enough space.
Make sure you water your seed in, don’t use a hose as this can dislodge the seed. Use a watering can with a rose attachment to gently cover the seed.
If you know you have a healthy bird population in your garden you can cover the spot with some horticultural fleece until the seed starts to germinate. Once germination starts (which can be up to 10 days) you can remove the fleece. It is also important you don’t walk on this whilst the seed is established.

A final note on re-seeding, not all seed is created equal. You can get a wide range of grass seed, it’s worth taking some time to choose the best seed for your situation. For example, particularly shady areas will need a different mix to very sunny areas.