What are the best ways to grow a beautiful lawn? Our guide outlines the top tips for seeding, turfing, mowing, mulching and avoiding weeds.
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Best ways to grow a beautiful lawn
So that you can enjoy your lawn as much as possible, we have put together the most important lawn care tips for you to grow a beautiful lawn and maintain it through every season of the year.
Mowing regularly
Regularly mowing the lawn is not only good for growth , but also for the density and tread resistance of the lawn. The blades of grass can develop new side shoots. In addition, mowing the lawn also prevents weeds from growing, as they tend to spread in tall grass.
The experts recommend a cutting height between 1.5 and 2 inches (3.5 and 5 centimeters) when mowing the lawn . From a height of seven centimeters, it’s time to get the lawnmower out of the garage. Under no circumstances should more than half the length of the blade of grass be trimmed when mowing. If the lawn is cut too short, the exposed roots can be damaged. Each mowing process removes valuable nutrients from the lawn, which you can then only supply with fertilizer.
How to care for lawn in spring
When and how often should the lawn be mowed?
Experts recommend cutting the lawn for the first time in April – the stalks are high enough and the temperatures have already risen slightly. After that, the lawn should be trimmed regularly , whereby personal taste is also decisive. If you wait too long to mow, unsightly brown spots can appear in the lawn. For an English lawn you should trim once a week, for a sprouting flower meadow it is enough twice a year.
Mow the lawn before and after your vacation
Before the holiday, the lawn is cut to the normal height (not shorter!). If the lawn has grown too high when you return from vacation, adjust the cutting height so that the blades do not capture more than half of the growth. After a few days, repeat this procedure based on the then prevailing growth height. Using this pattern, bring the lawn back to about four centimeters.
Should you mulch when you mow?
When mulching , the clippings are not collected, but simply left on the lawn. As mulch material, it lands on the sward, is decomposed and is then available to the stalks as green manure . Sounds tempting: The annoying emptying of the grass catcher is no longer necessary, as is the need to dispose of the clippings. On top of that , you save time and money because you no longer have to buy and spread special fertilizers.
So that the grass clippings do not stay on the stalks and rob the lawn of light and air, it is important that the cut stalks are short enough to trickle down between the lawn grasses onto the scar. You can achieve this, for example, by mowing several times .
In addition to special mulching mowers, many models can be converted with a mulching set , also known as a mulching kit. Or they are equipped with a toggle function that allows you to choose between catching, ejecting or mulching. Depending on the manufacturer, the mower housing and / or the knife is designed in such a way that the clippings are whirled around several times and thus chopped up into the smallest particles. Some mulching mowers also generate a stream of air that blows the stalks to where they belong at the end of the chopping phase: between the grass.
The right lawn mower for you: comparison of types
Do you know what type of lawnmower you prefer? The answer depends not only on your personal preferences and technical quality, but also on what your garden is like. After all, which model is best for maintaining your own green? Cylinder mowers , robotic lawnmowers , electric mowers , petrol mowers or maybe even a lawn tractor – anyone thinking about buying a new garden helper should know which device is particularly suitable for which area of application.
Cylinder or push mower
The hand cylinder mower only uses muscle power to mow – it requires neither electricity nor petrol. Without a motor, these devices are almost inaudible and require little maintenance. The even and precise cut helps to create a lush green lawn. The devices are very light and manoeuvrable and are therefore well suited for winding lawns. When mowing with the reel, the grass should not exceed half the height of the reel. A cut once a week is therefore the rule, as the lawn is only slightly shortened with each mowing process.
Petrol mower
Do you like to let your lawn grow tall and only have to cut the stubborn grass every three weeks or even only a few times a year? The petrol lawn mower is just right for this. The wheel drive is one of the important comfort features of petrol lawnmowers . This relieves you of a lot of work when pushing heavy equipment. Especially in gardens with a hillside location , this is worth its weight in gold. The large cutting width of 40 to 50 cm ensures quick work – even with large areas. However, the petrol engine produces the exhaust gases directly in front of the operator and is therefore not very healthy or environmentally friendly.
Electric lawn mower
With the electric lawnmower , you can get entry-level models for less than 100 euros. These usually offer a cutting width of 30 cm and are suitable for areas up to 200 m 2 . Larger models with more powerful motors and a cutting width of more than 40 cm are also suitable for lawns up to 700 m 2 . You always have to pay attention to the cable so as not to trip or run over it with the lawnmower. Of course, the cable also limits the range . The mowers are therefore not suitable for large areas and they often do not cope well with tall and damp lawns – despite motor outputs of up to 2,000 watts.
Cordless lawnmowers
Modern battery cells make electric lawnmowers flexible and powerful gardening tools without any cables. In terms of mowing performance, they are in no way inferior to the wired models, but are not quite as powerful as petrol mowers. Tall and dense grass also bother you – you should rely on devices with at least 36 V batteries. The cordless lawnmower is the right choice if your garden has an area of up to 700 m 2 . The battery capacity is decisive for the area coverage . The more ampere hours (Ah), the more durable the device.
Robotic lawnmower
A robotic lawnmower takes care of the lawn while you are at work. He drives off regularly and mows the lawn in sections , and in between he charges his battery. The fine grass clippings remain and serve as fertilizer. The lawn remains at a relatively low height. But: The mower should be cleaned once a week. In the beginning, boundary wire must be laid so that the robot knows where to drive along. Some robotic lawnmowers have problems in narrow passages and lawns that are not connected to one another. Tip: Pay attention to an edge mowing program when buying . Without the program you would have to trim the lawn edge by hand.
Scarifying against moss, lichens and weeds to grow a beautiful lawn
During this process, the lawn is scraped up with special scarifiers and moss and weeds are removed at the same time. Particularly old clippings that have laid a layer of felt on the turf inhibit the growth of the lawn because the roots are no longer adequately supplied with water, nutrients and air. If this layer is removed, the grass roots get more air, water and fertilizer and grow accordingly.
It is best to scarify twice a year – once in spring and once in autumn. The lawn should be dry in any case. Before scarifying, first mow the lawn as short as possible. In this way you remove a lot of organic matter before scarifying. When scarifying, the vertical knives penetrate the upper layer of the sward and loosen the root structure . Mainly, however, dead material stored on the sward, as well as weeds and moss, are removed. In order to effectively remove thatch and moss, you should scarify once lengthways and once across the lawn.
Important: The blades of the scarifier should be sharp. If necessary, sharpen them before use. After scarifying, rake the material together and transport it away. A light ” computing broom ” is the material the best choice. It is more convenient to work with than with a rake or fan broom. You should then reseed with a high-quality lawn mixture and fertilize the lawn so that it can recover – preferably in spring.
Remove moss and weeds in the lawn
Many garden owners get annoyed when moss, weeds and lichen grow in the lawn and destroy the lush green. The causes are varied: Sometimes the soil is too acidic, too shady or too damp – but often there were also mistakes in lawn care.
With scarifying you can remove unwanted mosses and lichens. Still, you’re only fighting the symptoms. Because shade and waterlogging are often the cause of moss growth. As long as the causes are not resolved, the moss will return again and again. This can be remedied by generously cutting out the trees that provide shade and thoroughly loosening / aerating the soil.
Warning: climbing weeds may not interfere with scarifying. The tendrils then continue to grow individually and take advantage of the lack of competition with the grass and spread over the entire area. The only thing that helps here is targeted cutting out of the plants.
A common cause of moss infestation is too acidic soil . You can use lime to balance the pH and prevent the moss from spreading further. You can find test sets in hardware stores that you can use to determine the pH value. If the soil has a pH value below 5.5, you need around 150 grams of lime per square meter. If the pH value exceeds the limit of 6.9, no lime is required.
However, experts advise against the lime method in the case of moss infestation, as the cause is often unfavorable soil conditions such as exclusion of air or waterlogging . As long as these are not remedied, lime-scale does not help either. On the contrary: lime serves as a nutrient for moss and can even accelerate growth.
Fertilizing to grow a beautiful lawn: which nutrients are important?
If the lawn suffers from a lack of nutrients , you can help with fertilizer. You can already tell from the fact that the lawn is no longer really green. The nutrients nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are particularly important.
- Nitrogen: promotes grass growth and the green color of the lawn
- Phosphorus: promotes root growth and provides energy
- Potassium: strengthens resilience, protects against dryness, cold and attack
- Blends: The correct mix of nutrients is already preset for the long-term lawn fertilizer. Correctly dosed, it also has no harmful consequences, such as “burning” the lawn. Long-term lawn fertilizer supplies the grass with potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus again. When using fertilizer based on iron sulfate, which kills moss, you should definitely wear gardening gloves and avoid skin contact.
If you use quickly soluble mineral fertilizers such as blue grain, the grass grows rapidly and massively. Only with slow-release fertilizer is there a balanced green effect.
Fertilizing the lawn: when is the right time?
It is usually enough to fertilize the lawn twice a year – preferably in April and July. If the lawn is heavily used, gardening enthusiasts use fertilizer three times, in April, June and August. A fourth treatment with fertilizer can take place in October. Experts especially recommend potassium, which prepares the lawn for winter.
Watering correctly to grow a beautiful lawn
Since turfgrass consists largely of water, it is dependent on adequate irrigation . Otherwise it can happen that the grasses discolor and die. The water requirement depends mainly on the temperature and the condition of the soil.
In any case, you should not use water sparingly during hot periods; the entire lawn should be watered thoroughly at least once a week. In midsummer you should even use a garden hose or watering can every day.
Important: Lawn under bushes and trees has a higher water requirement.
You should water regularly during dry spells in summer . Soak in two stages: 10 mm the first day, 10 mm the next day. In the meantime, the top 2 cm of the earth should no longer be really wet. In this way, the soil can absorb the water well and guide it to the root depth. As long as the drought persists, treat the grasses to this two-day treatment once a week. Water the lawn very early in the morning ,then you also keep the losses due to evaporation low.
When does the lawn need water?
As soon as the stalks do not straighten up again after being stepped on, it is time for the irrigation. The soil must be deeply moistened, usually about ten to 15 centimeters. Otherwise the deeper roots will dry up and the root system will flatten. This means that the next drought will damage the lawn more quickly.
Aerating the lawn: useful or not?
Opinions are divided when the lawn is aired. This step is not as important as fertilizing or scarifying for a healthy lawn, but it still contributes to a better supply of nutrients . The rotating springs of the lawn aerator comb through the sward and widen the gaps. This means that more water, air and nutrients reach the roots. The warm summer months are best suited for this process.
How to aerate the lawn
Aerate the lawn – this is how it works: If the stalks are sparse and let the bare earth peek through, the soil is probably compacted. To ventilate it, i.e. to make it looser and more permeable, treat it with a lawn aerator, an aerating fork, nail shoes, or hire the professionals at Heroes Lawn Care. This involves poking holes five to nine centimeters deep into the lawn. Then fill the holes with sand – this helps to keep the soil loose and makes it easier for the water to seep away.
Sowing a lawn: The right time and the right seed
Lawn plants are light germinaters and need light, sun and warmth to grow . So that all conditions are ideally fulfilled, one should wait in spring at the end of April or beginning of May , because then the temperatures at night are also right. Continuous at least 10 degrees are necessary when sowing the lawn. Alternatively, the conditions for sowing the lawn in early autumn are also ideal – whereas in the (high) summer the lawn seeds and seedlings dry out too quickly and easily burn in strong sunlight.
Whether the new lawn will flourish dense, robust and easy to care for depends primarily on the seed . Cheap qualities only produce a non-uniform surface. The quality is not protected, and so seeds are often added here, which farmers scatter on their pastures. These inexpensive grasses from agriculture are primarily grown for strong growth and a lot of green mass. Therefore, they grow poorly and do not form a dense scar that is suitable for playing or meets horticultural requirements.
The complex lawn cultivation of the specialist companies, on the other hand, has produced varieties that are characterized by dense growth and the associated good scar formation , rich color, low amount of forage and robustness against fungal diseases. The higher price pays off due to the later work relief. There is less grass when cutting. That makes mulch mowing interesting and relaxes us gardeners when thinking about overflowing compost heaps or time-consuming trips to the recycling yard.
Laying turf to grow a beautiful lawn
Rolled turf is a super-fast alternative to conventional sowing – also for gardens with grasses that are getting on in years. They have several advantages over sowing: On the one hand, the dense sward looks great immediately after laying. The turf can be walked on immediately and can withstand football and other games after four to six weeks. That is at least two to three months earlier than with sowing. In addition, their possible start-up difficulties are eliminated: there are neither lawn diseases nor seed loss, and the topsoil can be washed away in the rain.
Laying turf – when and how?
Turf can almost always be laid easily. Exceptions: during hot spells, drought, extremely wet or frozen ground. As far as soil preparation is concerned, rolled turf is exactly the same as with sowing: the subsoil should be weed-free, water-permeable and rolled absolutely flat. Immediately before laying it, you can easily rough it up with a rake . Also provide the area with a special lawn starter fertilizer .
Of course, old lawn has to be removed first. In the simplest case, a sod cutter is used to peel the grass from the ground. Most of the time, however, this step is done by tilling the ground with a tiller and picking out the tufts of grass by hand. After laying, the turf is rolled to ensure that the roots have a good connection to the ground. Then you should irrigate thoroughly with about 20 l / m² and check the amount with a rain gauge.
Rolled turf – the right care when growing
In the following weeks, too, there is sufficient watering so that the grasses can grow well. In dry conditions, this may be necessary daily at 15 to 20 l / m² . After about one to two weeks, the roots will have found a hold. To check this, you can carefully pull the sod once. If they are stuck, the first cut is due. Just mow the tips straight off. From now on, maintenance is carried out as usual.
How is turf actually made? We asked the lawnmakers. Read everything about visiting the lawnmakers here .
Mistakes to avoid if you want to grow a beautiful lawn
If you want to enjoy your lawn for a long time, you should follow these guidelines:
- Too much water: If the lawn is watered too seldom, it cannot grow – but too much of a good thing is just as wrong. The moss multiplies and snails are attracted.
- Wrong time to mow: If the grass is wet or on hot days, it is better to leave the lawn mower in the tool shed. The mower does not catch wet stalks properly and at temperatures above 30 degrees the ground dries out too quickly.
- Wrong time to water: If you water the garden in the midday heat, it will evaporate before it reaches the roots. It is best to water the lawn in the morning or in the evening.
- Refrain from fertilizer: To ensure that the lawn receives enough nutrients, it should be fertilized at least twice a year. Also make sure that it is evenly distributed.
Seasonal care to grow a beautiful lawn
Lawn care in spring
March : The mowing season begins with the forsythia bloom. Also, now is an excellent time to have a lawn renovation , should it be necessary. If the earth looks out from between sparsely growing stalks, the soil could be compacted by high footfall. In contrast, it helps to ventilate it with a digging fork or a special aeration fork. Then sweep sand into the holes. Use a scarifier to combat moss. Then fertilize!
April : Now the grasses need a slow release fertilizer. A refillable spreader bottle is new for even spreading. An iron cure turns stressed lawn green again. Weed cutters remove dandelions.
May : The more often you mow, the thicker the sward. If the lawn is damp at the usual mowing time, the “Turbo Star” technology can deal with it with its strong suction.
Lawn maintenance in summer
June : Lawn grasses tend to spread. Should they too, because this is how the holes grow closed. However, if they wander in beds, edge cutters are in demand.
July : Summer, sun, drought: if you don’t want a yellow lawn, you have to start the sprinkler now. Don’t just let it dribble a little. Otherwise the water will not reach the roots at all and the grass will only form roots that grow shallow. However, this makes the lawn more prone to drought damage. Correct watering in detail: Here are tips for saving water
August : Holidays at long last! Unfortunately, the lawn continues to grow during your vacation. If you left the cutting height lever at the usual setting when you return, the lawn would be ready for a holiday. It is better to shorten it in several stages (with a few days’ break in between), by no more than half in each case.
Lawn care in autumn
September : When the heat waves are over, the conditions are once again good for repairing bald spots in the lawn. To do this, sow a high-quality lawn mixture on the previously loosened and smooth soil.
October : Potassium strengthens the inner cell structure of the grass. Special autumn lawn fertilizers (Neudorff) contain the ideal amount of nutrients and help over the winter.
November : Colorful autumn leaves are a bright spot. However, if it’s left on the lawn too long, it can cause rot. Working together keeps the lawn and gardener fit. However, if the leaves end up in the grass bag when mowing, they can be put on the compost.
Lawn maintenance in winter
December : The car goes to the specialist workshop for maintenance once a year. If you love your mower, you do the same with it. This applies to petrol as well as to electric models!
January : Do woody plants cast more and more shade over your lawn? Then it may be worthwhile to thin them out a bit with good pruning shears.
February : The lawn is still resting. So you now have enough time to prepare the lawnmower for the season’s early start. Check the batteries of cordless mowers and recharge them if necessary. If you have not already done so, check gasoline engines for spark plugs, air filters and the oil level. If necessary, change the oil.
Gerhardt Richter is a writer and a trainer at trade technical colleges, specializing in carpentry, plumbing, mechanics and construction.
