Posts tagged as: lawn care

Top Dressing; When and Why?

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Applying a top dressing to your lawn is appropriate when it needs a boost of nutrients, is uneven or contains holes.

You should undertake top dressing to repair holes or uneven lawn just prior to the growing season, usually the beginning of Spring; not when the lawn plants are in their dormant phase or you run the risk of damaging or even killing the lawn entirely. Top dressing for nutrients can be applied at any time. Do not top dress on an annual basis regardless of popular belief as this will just accelerate the build-up of thatch. Avoid top dressing if rain is predicted as the wet weather will make the dressing difficult to deal with and make levelling troublesome. READ MORE:

Waterwise Facts

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waterwise facts and informationYour local water authority may be offering rebates on rainwater tanks.

We’ve collected together a list of resources from right across Australia – have a look and see if you can get a rebate in your area.

You might also like to consider using greywater, increasing the value you get from the water you are already using. READ MORE:

Get rid of those lawn weeds – broad leaf spray

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Broad Leaf SprayWinter is an excellent time to focus on getting any invaders under control whether they are weeds or pests. In the cooler months of June and July, warm season turf like Sir Walter fall into a dormant state, while broad leaf weeds continue to grow and become more obvious. This means that it is the perfect time to nip them in the bud (so to speak) by taking some serious action. By taking care of these pesky tasks now, you will have a greener lawn that will be ready to spring back into full health as soon as the warmer months hit.

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Sir Walter Lawn and Weed Resistance

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DandelionAt Sir Walter, we believe that prevention is always better than a cure, so we recommend that you keep Sir Walter healthy. Sir Walter turf has a natural weed resistance that will suffocate the growth of pesky weeds in its normal healthy state.

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Has Your Lawn got Lawn Grubs or Army Worms?

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army worms are usually active after a prolonged wet periodArmy worm or sod web worm can be really bad news and can attack all sorts of lawns right across Australia. Sadly their favourite lawn is a healthy one.

If you notice a patch of lawn that is slightly shorter or thinner or that looks like it might have been recently mown (but you know it hasn’t) you could have army worm.

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pH Correction Prior to Lawn Installation

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Lawn maintenance checking the pH of your lawnpH – ACID, NEUTRAL AND ALKALINE
Your soils’ pH is an important factor, but one that is often overlooked in the eagerness to get your lawn down. pH is measured on a scale from 0 -14 with the lower numbers representing acid soils, the higher numbers alkaline soils and 7 being neutral. READ MORE:

Creating and Maintaining a Beautiful Lawn in Autumn

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Autumn Lawn careThe days are getting shorter and the temperature is getting a little cooler, but your lawn is still growing. Autumn is one of the most important times on the lawn care calender.

Lots of things can happen this time of year depending on your location.

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Mowing your Sir Walter Lawn – Height Matters!

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Mowing your Sir Walter LawnThe first rule of thumb to keep in mind when mowing your Sir Walter Soft Leaf Buffalo Lawn, is that mowing height matters!

We know there’s no one mowing height that will work on all lawn types, we do know that close mowing reduces root growth though, which in turn reduces the amount of water the turf can absorb.

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Lawn Care Products (video)

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Lawnstore.com.au

Here at our Lawn Care Products Online Shop we have everything you need to keep your Sir Walter lawn looking absolutely fantastic, everything is covered including weed control, pest control and fertilisers. You can even get yourself a Sir Walter cap and one of our favourites the Sir Walter stubby cooler.

Go to the Lawnstore to buy your lawn care products

Controlling invasive grasses (video)

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Controlling invasive grasses

Sir Walters’s growth habit will usually crowd out most weeds and unwanted grasses.  But occasionally these undesirables will invade.Now it’s important not to confuse your weeds with your grasses.  Weeds are generally soft round plants where as unwanted grasses include things like kikuyu, couch, paspalum, summergrass and wintergrass.  Now these are best removed with a weed wand filled with glyphosate or for some grasses you may want to chip them out with a matic or a garden spade.

Lawn Aeration – What is soil compaction? (video)

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Lawn compaction

Lawn compaction is a common problem; it is caused by wear and tear and heavy traffic.  For example if you like your backyard cricket, around the batting crease or bowlers run-up you will find the soil can get compacted, or if you are walking back and forward to the washing line.  It is easy to check for and it is pretty easy to fix.

To test if you have a compacted lawn, simply push a garden fork or screwdriver into the ground.  In a good lawn, the tines of the fork should easily go down halfway or more, if they don’t the chances are the lawn is compacted and it needs some fixing.

Lawn Aeration

You can aerate compacted lawns with a garden fork or power aerator or coring machines.  You can hire petrol driven lawn aerators from equipment rental companies.

You can also apply gypsum to compacted lawns at the rate of about 1 kilo per square metre. Once the lawn is aerated it will grow strongly again and outcompete bindii and other nasty broadleaf weeds.

Watering tips for your lawn / Lawns tips & watering (video)

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Watering tips for your lawn / Lawns tips & watering

We cannot emphasise enough how important it is to water your lawn straight away, as soon as you have got it down.  If you don’t water it your lawn will dry out and start turning brown and look very nasty.  If you are doing a large area don’t wait until it is all finished, start watering once you have a few metres down, because that first hour in the sun is critical. Make sure you water methodically, thoroughly soaking every square metre before moving onto the next section.

Establishing your roots

The surface soil must be kept moist until the roots of the turf have established. To test later on, try to lift a corner of the turf, if it holds well it is established, if it comes away in your hand it needs more time.  This is also the way to determine whether the lawn is established enough to be mown, this can take between 1 to 8 weeks depending on location and the time of year.The amount of water your lawn will need will depend on local conditions.  A good idea is to leave a towel out on the lawn for the first few days, when the towel dries out, your lawn will immediately need more water, it is so critical for the first few days. Also move the towel around just so you don’t do any damage to the lawn.It is important that your lawn receives regular waterings and is prevented from drying out for the first 6 weeks or at least until it has been mown twice by which time it should be well established.

Remember less frequent deeper soakings are the way to go because that will encourage good strong deep roots, which is what every lawn owner should strive for.

If your lawn becomes slightly patchy 4 to 6 weeks after installation it is usually due to extreme weather or lack of correct watering during early establishment. There is not a lot you can do if this occurs, except give it some time and it will return to normal. Once it is established watering can be cut right back, Sir Walter lawns in most parts of Australia hardly need any regular watering to keep alive once established.

Except in really sandy locations such as Western Australia where weekly watering will be required.Don’t forget when it comes to watering always check and comply with any local water restrictions or better still if you haven’t done so already install a rain tank.