Turf & Lawn Blog

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...

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...

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...

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...

  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...

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...

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 mowing Irrigate Feed 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...

  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...

The importance of grass and how to look after your lawn. 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 1/4 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...

Which Turf Type Should I Choose? A Guide to Choosing the Right Turf 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...

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) key Just 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....

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 possible Aerate if necessary Use moss killer and repair the damage As a last resort, replace your lawn Good care throughout the year We know it’s not always...

A question we are often asked is what is the best time of year to lay turf . Well, according to the Royal Horticultural Society, probably the ideal time is mid-autumn. But turf can be laid any time of year especially between early autumn and early spring.  However, you can’t lay turf when the ground is frosty or very wet , (which is why winter is often a challenge) and it is best to avoid periods of high temperatures or drought (as the turf will require alot of water and additional care and may be dry when delivered), this can...

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...

  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...

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?

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,...

  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...

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...