Lush lawns year round

Not much compares to a lush green manicured lawn that graces the exterior of your home and enables you to appreciate the beauty of nature in its simplest form.

The Friendly Plant

We chatted to two landscaping and garden specialists to find out how you can keep your lawn green and great throughout the year.

The Friendly Plant

Checklists for green lawns throughout the year:

There are many different types of lawns available, but with Kikuyu being by far the most commonly found lawn type, Craig de Necker, managing director of The Friendly Plant, uses this as an example and offers his checklist for green lawns:

– Mow your lawn regularly (once a week should suffice) in order to promote growth.
– Irrigate well. Ideally, irrigation should be for a longer time period and less frequently. This reduces evaporation and allows for the water to be drawn down into the soil for a deeper, healthier root system. In winter, irrigate in the early morning in order to wash the frost off the lawn.
– In late winter, scarify or dethatch the lawn in order to remove dead grass blades and roots. Aerate the lawn with a spiked roller or garden fork.
– Fertilise your lawn at the beginning of the season (August/September) as well as halfway through summer using 5:1:5.
– For a small area that is awkward to mow or in a shady spot, consider using synthetic lawn in order to save on water and maintenance.

The Friendly Plant

Maureen Leven, information assistant at the inside information desk at Lifestyle Home Garden, offers her go-to checklist for lush green lawns:

– In winter and before spring you need to scarify (cut and remove) your lawn with a sturdy, strong rake to get all the dead lawn and leaves away.
– Then apply lawn dressing. One bag of lawn dressing will cover 3m2 and needs to be spread quite thinly.
– After applying lawn dressing you need to water, water, water. In winter it is best to water between 11.30am and 12.30pm and in summer, late afternoons are ideal.
– Check lawns for insects such as lawn caterpillars, termites, ants and so forth. An organic insecticide like Scatterkill for insects can be applied and works very well.
– Fertilise your lawns with Fertilawn or a 7:1:3 fertiliser and water well after applying.
– Most lawns are dormant in winter, but if you want lawns to be green throughout the year, the answer is simply to water it.