Turf & Lawn Blog

Frost on your lawn: how to avoid Springtime woes through Winter damage. A serene winter garden. Frost glistening on tree branches. Crisp fresh snow, robins and red berries on holly. It’s a beautiful image, and one we all hope to enjoy in our gardens this winter. But there’s more going on beneath that picturesque frost. Behind the Christmas-card vignette, your winter garden scene is hiding a worrying secret: all that ice and snow could be harming your precious lawn. Like dogs and gym memberships, lawns are not just for the festive season: it’s a year-round commitment. So how can you stop...

If you’ve spent the summer watching your lawn mature into a lush green paddock then you’ll find these tips handy to ensure that your good work doesn’t go to waste as the weather turns colder. Clear the debris The garden rake is the most important tool for your lawn during autumn. It might be a thankless task, but keeping your garden turf clear of debris is essential to its health – particularly if it’s newly laid. Leaving the leaves on the lawn causes damage as they rot over the wet winter, releasing pathogens which can cause disease. Don’t cut your garden...

Scarifying generally refers to the process of cutting and removing debris from a lawn with the use of a scarifier. Raking can achieve the same results but is much more time consuming and labour intensive. Initially scarifying often has a detrimental effect on the appearance of a lawn, but if you do it correctly it should recover and look healthier than ever. It is crucial to know when to scarify so that your lawn can repair as quickly as possible following this procedure. Even if you do a good job scarifying, doing it at the wrong time of year or in...

There is no finer feeling than being out in the garden in the sunshine on a hot day and you want your lawn to be in tip top shape to make the most of the unpredictable British weather. Intense sunny spells can have a damaging effect on your lawn so keep it in shape and looking pristine this summer with a few useful tips to avoid any summer lawn issues. If you lawn is not getting enough natural moisture you may have a dull and tired looking lawn by the time that summer rolls around. One way to avoid this is...

Moss can be a lawn-ruiner if it appears in your garden, but some careful planning and care can remove it and prevent it from returning if you are vigilant.  Moss is caused by many things, it could be overuse or it the garden is new, the foundations of the garden could be poor. This could mean that the lawn turf has poor drainage or has been mowed to close. Waterlogging, shady areas and sparse coverage of turf in your garden can also encourage moss to grow and spoil the image of a pristine lawn that you worked so hard to achieve. ...

The UK has seen unexpected heavy amounts of snow during winter time in recent years. If you want to keep your lawn looking healthy in the spring, preparation for snow is essential. If you live in an area commonly affected by snow, find out what types of turf will best stand up to the abuse of winter weather, visit our winter turf guide. During heavy snowfall a large amount of weight is placed upon your lawn in a short space of time. The turf is also starved of the light that it needs to carry out photosynthesis, and it may become...

Mowing is a necessary and simple practice to keep your lawn looking pristine, but it is often performed incorrectly leading to ruptured or destroyed garden turf. Mowing may be an easy turf management process but it is one of the things most responsible for damaging lawns. There are certain things to consider ensuring you avoid abusing your turf when you mow. Avoid infrequent mowing as it leads to excessive clippings at each occasion; conversely, mowing too frequently can leave grass shorter than it should be. The height of cut is important to recognise; shorter mowing means the plant may have to...

With winter in full swing and the temperatures plummeting, you may thing that waiting until the weather warms up will be a better time to re-do your lawn.  But in reality, winter is the perfect time to replace your lawn turf and to get your garden ready for the spring and summer. By completing all your renovations and having your new grass turf in place by the end of winter, you are one step ahead of everyone else who may only just be starting to do their work.  Working on your lawn in winter is perfect because you are not using...

Good facilities are fundamental to creating sporting opportunities and a more enjoyable sporting environment. A quality natural turf surface improves the participation of sport from community level right through to the professional game. Synthetic turf, whilst useful for its all weather purpose, ultimately does not replicate the feel of playing on a proper grass surface. Well preserved natural turf provides sporting enjoyment for all major sports such as football, rugby and cricket; sports that can otherwise be ruined by poor playing surfaces. Spending money on a great natural surface can reduce the frustration and expense of postponing fixtures and make sport...

The British Winter months are notorious for being cold, wet and miserable. Fortunately, your garden turf doesn't have to suffer every year. We've put together a list of great lawn grass varieties that will still look great during the coldest winters Britain can throw at them. Fine Fescue Turf This turf grows quickly and has the ability to blend well with other turf grass varieties. Its rapid growth means it can be a great solution to replanting lawns after you have re-done your garden as winter approaches. This turf grass is very fine - it's called Fine Fescue because it is...

The sun has come out, but weather forecasters still don’t seem to be ready to say whether we’re likely to have a hot summer or not. It’s even harder to know whether there will be a drought. But follow our tips for summer lawn care, and your lawn should survive whatever the weather. Keep mowingIrrigateFeed Even if the weather is dry, do keep mowing your lawn all summer. All kinds of garden turf need regular maintence to keep them looking healthy. If it rains fairly regularly, it may need doing twice a week, or even more often, so be guided by...

If you’ve done a fair bit of gardening, you probably already know about couch grass, Elymus repens, a perennial weed with spreading roots. It’s one of those that can regenerate from each little bit of root, so you really need to dig out every last bit of root, and not leave the ends behind in the turf. And the trouble with getting it into your lawn is that it can take a while to identify it as couch grass, and by then, it could have become well-established, and threaten to take over. And once it’s in the lawn, it rapidly spreads into...

Winter Lawn Care Guide During the winter, lawn turf can really suffer from the weather. It’s particularly bad if you can’t avoid walking on your lawn, for example, if you need to get to the shed, to fill up bird feeders, or to get to a compost heap. So what can you do to protect your lawn, and give it the best chance of surviving winter unscathed? Stay off it if possibleAerate if necessaryUse moss killer and repair the damageAs a last resort, replace your lawnGood care throughout the year We know it’s not always easy, but if you can, avoid...

You may not exactly be worried about ants in your garden. After all, they are one of the most abundant insects on the planet, so you are almost certain to have some in your garden at some stage, and surely it’s best to live with them? They clear up crumbs and mess if you eat outdoors, and generally keep the garden tidy, so surely you can tolerate them? Well, yes, probably that’s true, but if they make nests in the lawn, then they will make a mess of it. They disturb the soil around plant roots and deposit it on the surface,...

Waterlogging in lawns is a problem which tends to show up in wet winters more than any other time of year. It is when the lawn does not drain at all, and water lies on the surface of the lawn after rain. Now, having a few puddles may not seem like too much of a problem in itself, but it does lead to other problems, such as compaction of soil. And if the water lies around for a long time, the grass can actually drown because the water prevents air getting to the roots, and then moss will take over, because...

Mind Your Own Business or Soleirolia Soleirolii No, not a problem with nosy neighbours, but a creeping perennial, Soleirolia soleirolii (syn. Helxine soleirolii). It looks lovely in wall and patio crevices, spreading quickly to fill gaps, but regrows from the smallest sections of stem, and can be a nightmare to control once it gets into a lawn or borders. It forms dense bright green mats of foliage, and also has a golden form, with pretty white flowers in spring. So yes, it’s attractive, but don’t be fooled, its spread is described as ‘indefinite’ and you really, really don’t want it in your lawn! If...

Animals in your garden can be a real nuisance. Rabbits and moles in particular can make a spectacular mess of a beautiful stretch of lawn turf, but what can you do about it? Moles Usually the first sign of mole activity is molehills in your lovely lawn, and it’s most likely to happen in late winter or early spring. But a molehill is not just a pile of soil, because it is also the visible sign of a network of tunnels. You’ll need to remove the soil before mowing, and also backfill surface tunnels to prevent them from collapsing. There are...

Snow mould and take-all patch are both caused by fungi, but since they’re both quite damaging to lawns, we thought it would be helpful to provide more information than was possible within the scope of the Fungi article. Snow Mould Snow mould, or fusarium patch, is a common cause of brown patches in lawns, and is caused by a fungus, Monographella nivalis. It is a very damaging disease of turf grasses, and is very hard to control. It is most commonly found in autumn and during spells of mild weather in winter, and appears as yellowish patches of grass, which turn...

Fungi can appear in lawns for a variety of reasons, and not all are a problem, although they can look unsightly. This article gives you a bit more information about the most common fungi to appear in lawns. Fairy rings These fungi are often seen in lawns, and cause circular rings of dead grass or small brown toadstools. The most damaging of the fairy ring fungi is Marasmius oreades, which lives in the roots of the grass, and alters its appearance. Unfortunately, there are no chemical controls, and it’s not really worth sweeping up fairy rings, because they produce so many...

From early September until the end of October or early November is the best time to plant spring bulbs. So how about planting some in your lawn? They will naturalise over time, and become a key part of your spring garden, brightening the place up with their cheerful colour. Adding bulbs to the lawn is a very good way to get additional spring colour into a garden where there isn’t much space for bulbs in the garden beds, or just to add an accent of colour in the middle of all that green. So what sort of bulbs are suitable, and...