Turf & Lawn Blog

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...

Grass. It’s everywhere. It’s our garden carpet, it lines our paths, it cushions our children’s falls, it covers sports fields, it’s what makes a park a park, it feeds our livestock and yet grass is taken for granted on a daily basis. Grasslands cover a massive ¼ of the earth’s land area with over 9,000 different species carpeting mountain peaks, polar regions, savannahs, jungles and making our planet liveable. Although we do not eat grass, without it, we would lose a massive food source. We can thank grass for the production of rice, corn, oats, sugar, bread, alcohol and so much...

So you’ve decided to lay a new lawn. You’ve prepared the site, everything is ready, and you just need to buy turf. So off you go to a turf suppliers, but you’re faced with a choice. There are several different types of turf, and no information about which one will be right for you and your garden. So what do you do? Just read our useful guide to buying lawn turf, and you’ll be confident of choosing the right one for you. First of all, check how long your turf will be kept rolled up before delivery. Turf is not good...

Is it possible to lay turf in the spring?  Yes, of course it is, and here are some top tips to ensure that your new lawn turf will not just survive but thrive! Preparation is (still) keyJust in time ordering (we deliver turf next day, get a price here)Looking after your lawn once it’s laid The quality of your lawn will depend on the quality of your preparation. Luckily for you, there are very few perennial weeds growing at this time of year, although the mild temperatures mean that more are around than usual this year. Make sure you clear them all...

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...

We are often asked what is the best time of year to lay turf.  Like all living organisms, there are optimal conditions for growth. Turf is no exception to that rule. The way it’s treated affects how healthy it’s going to be and how it performs. The initial treatment of turf is thoroughly vital. If it’s neglected at the start, this can have dire consequences and it could end up dying. Imagine having to stop before you’ve even started!  So when is the correct time? Is there a specific day, like the 5th of April? Of course not, it depends on...

Growing grass in shady places is a challenge. Yes, it might be easier to give up and have a patio, but everyone loves a lawn, and with the help of this article, you too should be able to manage a beautiful stretch of lawn turf even in a shady area, although perhaps not in a wood! Most grass in a turf mix needs about four to six hours of sunshine a day in the summer. Much less, and it becomes less vigorous and prone to disease. But there are now seed mixes that are specifically designed for shady areas, and which...

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,...

A beautiful stretch of lawn turf is a joy to behold, but it’s also quite a lot of work, what with the mowing, feeding, aerating, scarifying and so on. But are there low maintenance alternatives? We’ve run a few articles about wildflower meadows, but how about a chamomile lawn? Is your garden suitable? Chamomile needs sunshine, and it also needs light soils, and some moisture. Heavy clay soils are not suitable as they will be both too wet in winter and too dry in summer. A very dry, stony site is also unsuitable, as the chamomile will be patchy. A chamomile...

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...

Planting one or more trees in a lawn is a very good way to break up a large expanse of turf, and also provide some shade and shelter for birds and animals. And, of course, autumn is the best time to plant trees. But how do you go about planting a tree in your lawn? 1) Choose and buy your tree There are a wide range of trees available, in different sizes, so think about what you might want before buying. Things to consider include soil type, size, and aspect, as well as whether you want something evergreen or deciduous, spring...

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...