News: Are you ready for Spring?

Winter’s gone and Spring is arriving fast. Is your grass looking somewhat drab and anaemic? This will be because it’s been dormant for the last few months, mainly living off food reserves stored in its root systems. As the soil warms, your grass is desperate to start producing new leaf growth to help it catch sunlight, which then turns into energy through photosynthesis (isn’t nature wonderful?)
 
So these small plants need a cocktail of nutrients from the soil. The main elements they need at this stage are nitrogen, potassium, phosphorous and magnesium – yum! Most soil contains a lot of these but if you want your lawn looking lush and health, it really needs that extra bit of help and that means a supplement.
 
Fertilisers are available from many retail outlets, but these tend to be of varying quality. At George Davies Turf we stock professional fertiliser to give your lawn the nutrients it needs.  Care must be taken to make sure that the correct amounts are used, and that they are applied evenly to avoid any chance of uneven colours or plant damage due to scorching.
 
We can also look to start mowing lawns as conditions dry out (finally!) – take care to avoid wet soil conditions as this causes compaction and ensure that you brush over wintered worm castes with a rake first so they are not squashed over grass plants. Grass should be cut to a height of 30mm at this stage (just over an inch) and make sure that the blades have been recently sharpened for the best results.
 
For mature lawns, now is a good time to remove any dead material or moss to allow good moisture and air movement into the soil and around the grass plants. Remember, moss will only grow in areas where the grass is not growing healthily. Raking or scarifying are ideal ways to remove the dead material (thatch) or moss but it will always pay to dehydrate the moss first using Iron Sulphate. This is available in a variety of granule and liquid forms and should be applied ASAP in moist conditions Again, care must be taken when applying as this material can badly stain patios and cause other damage.
 
New Lawns
 
If you have a recently laid lawn, do not under any circumstances scarify it or carry out any cultural activity as the plants are very delicate and will not have started to root properly as yet. You can thicken any thin patches (under trees etc..) by spreading seed and dressing some topsoil at a depth of 10-15mm over the top, all of which are available from GDT.
 
Basically, your turf needs little more than good nutrition and regular mowing at this stage. However as the weather grows warmer, it will be prone to fusarium which is a nasty fungal disease that can affect grass, especially the soft growth of new turf. If you do see puffy white areas such as these, it’s always a good idea to get in touch with a professional ASAP as it can leave unsightly scars over your new lawn.

To find out more about grass diseases such as fusarium click on this link:/turf-healthcheck
 
It is too wet to aerate the soil as yet but it is something we can start planning to do.
 
As a business, we do everything we can to help and advise all of our customers. However if you feel you need a professional lawn care business to look after your new lawn then we recommend the following:
 
Pro Lawn Care – Richard Salmon based in St Neots and covering our customers North of Luton & Stevenage. 01480 812393 – rsalmon@prolawncare.co.uk
 
Perfect Ground Solutions – Colin Peters based in Wareside (Herts) and covering our customer base south of Luton & Stevenage  01920 461958   / 07950 334112  – colin@perfectgroundsolutions.co.uk
 
 
And as a special bonus, both companies have agreed to offer new potential customers a free first fertiliser application (Within our area of business and up to a maximum of 300 metres squared)