Lush lawns-Care and Troubleshooting Part III

“To me, a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug” – Helen Keller

The smell, the feel, and the look of natural grass stimulates all our senses and if we listen carefully, we can hear the grasshoppers and the various denizens of the insect world on a balmy summer or autumn evening. However, with the strain on water resources, people are now looking at Astroturf as an alternative to natural grass. I will discuss Astroturf as an alternative at the end of the series. Most of the inputs for this series have come from a dear friend and natural grass expert Kauser Ismail.

We looked at pesticides and fertilizers used for natural grass lawns in the earlier post. In this one we will discuss, watering needs and irrigation as well as dethatching which is a very important part of maintaining a natural grass lawn and which increases the life of the grass.

Watering Needs

During the cooler weather water once a day. If you have an irrigation system once a day for 2 min. During summer water thrice a day for 3 minutes each time. For those who have an irrigation system watering by hand is also important as the water by irrigation may not be enough.

If you have large trees near the lawn you might have to water more as the tree roots also take up the water. Make sure you remove any surface tree roots regularly so that the grass is not strangled.

 A tip –

For those who have an irrigation system please note the placement of the valves and the correlation between valves & the irrigation timer cycles. Most of the time when there’s an issue with the irrigation system gardeners need to dig through the turf to locate the valves.

Weeds

Weeds need to be removed manually on a regular basis. The moment you spot a weed pluck it out straight from the root. If this is not done regularly weeds will overtake the entire turf. There are a lot of commercial weed removers available – these are not safe for the turf & more suitable for weeds in pathway cracks, etc. Again gardeners believe that by mowing the lawn the weeds get killed – no they don’t. They are just not visible anymore and spread at a more rapid pace. Yes it takes a lot of hard work but you could save yourself time & effort if the issue is addressed on time

Dethatching when & how

Thatch, which comprises living and dead material, accumulates naturally at the base of grass where the blades meet. When thatch builds up it becomes difficult for water, nutrients, and air to reach grass roots.

How to dethatch

Using a sharp curved rake, rake the lawn as you would rake leaves. Move in the same direction – don’t do back & forth and you may damage grass roots. Dead grass & moss will come up and loosen up & it needs to be disposed off. Be careful not to apply too much pressure as you may end up damaging irrigation pipes.

In order to make the thatching process easier sprinkle ammonium sulfate over the turf & deep water. Be careful with quantity. Use at half strength it is safer. This loosens the thatch & removing is easy.

You need to dethatch a lawn once in 2 years only at the start of the season. Dethatch only when the lawn is healthy.

Once you dethatch next step is aerating. Aerating is the process of poking holes in the grass for better air circulation & intake of nutrients and water. Aerating can be done at the start & end of the season. Aerating shoes are easily available on Amazon and are a fantastic workout for the lower body. Make sure you have someone with you while doing this as you may lose balance. Be mindful of irrigation pipes as they can get damaged.

Once you aerate the lawn, fertilize with a liquid fertilizer every 10 days. Biovita is great and you can use Bioenzyme that you make at home as well as fruit ferment as well as water from fermented grass clippings.

To read about types of grass and mowing please refer to the post here.

https://letstalkgardens.com/lush-lawns-care-and-troubleshooting-part-i/(opens in a new tab)

To read about fertilizers and pesticides please refer to the post here.

https://letstalkgardens.com/lush-lawns-care-and-troubleshooting-part-ii/(opens in a new tab)

Next week we shall discuss Astroturf or artificial grass and its pro and cons.