Grass Clippings - Lawn Advice From a Team of Lawn and Turf Experts

Winter Lawn Care Tips

With the New Year just over a weeks old, our thought process at this time of year is not always on our lawns.  The grass does not stop growing, but it slows almost to a stop and with a slight increase in temperature will easily grow over the winter months.  Currently it's wet and mild with temperatures today set at 11 degrees centigrade.

If we enter a period of warmer winter sunshine and the ground is not frozen, sieze the opportunity to get the mower out and 'top' the grass taking off anything from 10% to 25% off the top to tidy it up and stimulate whatever growth there may be at this time of the year.

No lawn should be scarified in the winter months when there is little chance of natural grass plant recovery following the scarification process no matter what your chosen lawn care expert or company claims!

With the New Year just over a weeks old, our thought process at this time of year is not always on our lawns.  The grass does not stop growing, but it slows almost to a stop and with a slight increase in temperature will easily grow over the winter months.  Currently it's wet and mild with temperatures today set at 11 degrees centigrade.

If we enter a period of warmer winter sunshine and the ground is not frozen, sieze the opportunity to get the mower out and 'top' the grass taking off anything from 10% to 25% off the top to tidy it up and stimulate whatever growth there may be at this time of the year.

No lawn should be scarified in the winter months when there is little chance of natural grass plant recovery following the scarification process no matter what your chosen lawn care expert or company claims!

Happy New Year from The Grass Clippings Team

The Grass Clippings Team would like to wish all our Readers a happy and healthy 2020.  Bring on 'The Roaring Twenties'

With over 1,450 technical articles here on our Lawn Blog, you are never more than a simple search away from a useful and technically correct article about caring for your lawn.

The weather in the UK is still rather mild and the grass is still growing which is not bad for the 8th of January!  Don't be shy to run the mower over the lawns if ground conditions permit over the next week or two and trimming the lawn will really lift the garden.

Are Worm Casts destroying your Lawn?

The worms do a splendid job in the soil just beneath the grass crown, but it is a pity that their soil cast deposits pose such a problem for lawn owners.

CastClear is an organic non-pesticide control solution available to domestic lawn owners to deter the worms from casting.   There are only five types of casting worms found in UK lawns. 

Other European countries also suffer worm worm casts on turf.  The problem can be solved  CastClear is the solution to lawn soil casts.

Time to become a CastClear Stockist

We get a lot of the Garden Retail Trade referring to our lawn advice blog to their customers and a lot of garden professionals reading it too.  We thank you all!

If you are a garden retail outlet servicing gardeners with lawns then you should be stocking CastClear - the lawn worm cast suppressant and deterrent as they will all have a lawn worm cast problem.  It's a problem that all lawn owners face in the autumn months.

We get a lot of the Garden Retail Trade referring to our lawn advice blog to their customers and a lot of garden professionals reading it too.  We thank you all!

If you are a garden retail outlet servicing gardeners with lawns then you should be stocking CastClear - the lawn worm cast suppressant and deterrent as they will all have a lawn worm cast problem.  It's a problem that all lawn owners face in the autumn months.

We get a lot of the Garden Retail Trade referring to our lawn advice blog to their customers and a lot of garden professionals reading it too.  We thank you all!

If you are a garden retail outlet servicing gardeners with lawns then you should be stocking CastClear - the lawn worm cast suppressant and deterrent as they will all have a lawn worm cast problem.  It's a problem that all lawn owners face in the autumn months.

We get a lot of the Garden Retail Trade referring to our lawn advice blog to their customers and a lot of garden professionals reading it too.  We thank you all!

If you are a garden retail outlet servicing gardeners with lawns then you should be stocking CastClear - the lawn worm cast suppressant and deterrent as they will all have a lawn worm cast problem.  It's a problem that all lawn owners face in the autumn months.

Happy Thanksgiving Holidays to our USA Readers

When you start a blog like Grass Clippings, you never quite estimate how far and wide your audience will be. 

With over 1,450 lawn related articles (a wonderful milestone we passed this week) and lifetime views of over 3 million technical posts, this humble lawn advice resource is well used by many a lawn owner and turf professional, including many across the pond.

We thank you all wherever you may be, and if you are starting your thanksgiving holiday weekend today, we hope you all have a great time with your family and friends and enjoy the College Football games on today.

Teach yourself in the safe use of Pesticides

Who better to train you in the safe use of pesticides than an organisation that is doing what you will be trained to do, each day of the year?

Weed Free are able to provide formal training and assessments for Food and Environment Protection Act Certificates of Competence in the Safe use of Pesticides. Each year, we train many Greenkeepers and Sports Turf Managers and Local Authority Staff.

We were asked multi-times to provide training one to one to small business owners and as a result came up with the the self study pesticide course concept to support our on site training for larger companies and organisations.

You can purchase self-learn NPTC / City & Guilds training modules and other publications here.

Who better to train you in the safe use of pesticides than an organisation that is doing what you will be trained to do, each day of the year?

Weed Free are able to provide formal training and assessments for Food and Environment Protection Act Certificates of Competence in the Safe use of Pesticides. Each year, we train many Greenkeepers and Sports Turf Managers and Local Authority Staff.

We were asked multi-times to provide training one to one to small business owners and as a result came up with the the self study pesticide course concept to support our on site training for larger companies and organisations.

You can purchase self-learn NPTC / City & Guilds training modules and other publications here.

Who better to train you in the safe use of pesticides than an organisation that is doing what you will be trained to do, each day of the year?

Weed Free are able to provide formal training and assessments for Food and Environment Protection Act Certificates of Competence in the Safe use of Pesticides. Each year, we train many Greenkeepers and Sports Turf Managers and Local Authority Staff.

We were asked multi-times to provide training one to one to small business owners and as a result came up with the the self study pesticide course concept to support our on site training for larger companies and organisations.

You can purchase self-learn NPTC / City & Guilds training modules and other publications here.

Who better to train you in the safe use of pesticides than an organisation that is doing what you will be trained to do, each day of the year?

Weed Free are able to provide formal training and assessments for Food and Environment Protection Act Certificates of Competence in the Safe use of Pesticides. Each year, we train many Greenkeepers and Sports Turf Managers and Local Authority Staff.

We were asked multi-times to provide training one to one to small business owners and as a result came up with the the self study pesticide course concept to support our on site training for larger companies and organisations.

You can purchase self-learn NPTC / City & Guilds training modules and other publications here.

Who better to train you in the safe use of pesticides than an organisation that is doing what you will be trained to do, each day of the year?

Weed Free are able to provide formal training and assessments for Food and Environment Protection Act Certificates of Competence in the Safe use of Pesticides. Each year, we train many Greenkeepers and Sports Turf Managers and Local Authority Staff.

We were asked multi-times to provide training one to one to small business owners and as a result came up with the the self study pesticide course concept to support our on site training for larger companies and organisations.

You can purchase self-learn NPTC / City & Guilds training modules and other publications here.

Delivering year-round lawn care

Nowadays, there is probably nothing that you cannot purchase online. It's pretty easy to get anything you want delivered right to your home or office doorstep - but in a few cases you still have to do the actual shopping and curating for yourself.

That's where subscription boxes come in and this concept is very popular.  For either a monthly/quarterly or a per-delivery fee, you can now have someone else handle the shopping list and shipping, and all you have to do is sit back and get a box full of cool stuff in each delivery.

Nowadays, there is probably nothing that you cannot purchase online. It's pretty easy to get anything you want delivered right to your home or office doorstep - but in a few cases you still have to do the actual shopping and curating for yourself.

That's where subscription boxes come in and this concept is very popular.  For either a monthly/quarterly or a per-delivery fee, you can now have someone else handle the shopping list and shipping, and all you have to do is sit back and get a box full of cool stuff in each delivery.

Lawn Treatment Company Vs Do it Yourself

What the majority of lawn owners require is clear, concise and consistent advice.  We live in a service industry world and having your lawn treated is a bit like getting your laundry done. 

Increasingly, we note on our travels that lawn owners are trying one or more of the many lawn treatment companies for a couple of years and then seeking a change, more often than not reverting back towards looking after their lawns themselves now that the weeds and moss have gone and the grass quality and density is so much better than it was before the lawn treatment company were employed.

What the majority of lawn owners require is clear, concise and consistent advice.  We live in a service industry world and having your lawn treated is a bit like getting your laundry done. 

Increasingly, we note on our travels that lawn owners are trying one or more of the many lawn treatment companies for a couple of years and then seeking a change, more often than not reverting back towards looking after their lawns themselves now that the weeds and moss have gone and the grass quality and density is so much better than it was before the lawn treatment company were employed.

Curing Lawn Dry Patches

Dry Patch is a little known problem of turf in amateur lawn circles but one that has an incredible impact in ensuring consistent colour, growth, nutrient status, run of the ball and most of all visual impact and continuity of grass cover.

We have had two really dry summers with a lot of rain since mid September to date but these dry patches will return so be prepared!

You may notice a darkening halo on parts of the lawn, visible from the upstairs window. This is a good indicator that the soil underneath is starting to or has dried out.

Benefits of a Garden Spray Dye

Indigo Garden Spray Dye is a unique food grade dye, which when mixed with liquid garden treatment products, will make all garden sprays visible.

For use, all year round on lawns, gravel driveways, vegetation, non-crop areas, building lines, fence lines and obstacles. Use as part of a treatment programme.

The Solution to Lawn Worm Casts

CastClear is the solution to lawn worm casts.  It's a lawn soil cast suppressant and a deterrent.  It's proven control on both lawns and sports turf.

Which? Gardening Trials Team trialled it and gave it the thumbs up.

It is unique in using a surfactant system that moves the nutrient into the upper soil structure and fixes it there providing good persistence of deterrent effect until breaking down to natural nutrients absorbed by plant roots.

Fixing Dry Patches in your Lawn

Let's face it - we have had two really dry summers in the past two years.

If you are wondering how to fix dry patches in your lawn to get rid of them, the answer lays with Lawn Quencher - Lawn Dry Patch Remedy.

Nothing will grow in the garden without water and in these dry, crusty lawn patches, the soil underneath the surface is as dry as it could ever be.

This clever 75 gram wetting agent tablet will:

Using a Spray Pattern Dye in a Garden Sprayer

A spray pattern indicator dye is a marker dye when spraying with a garden sprayer or knapsack to help you spray with greater precision when chemical spraying.

How many times have you treated your patio, driveway or lawn and always wondered where you have sprayed?  Okay if you can follow a wet line before it dries but what if this is not a visual guide to the sprayer operator? What about on large areas or oddly shaped areas?  The list is endless!

Using a dye for chemical spraying will let you know:

Earthworm Infestations on Lawns

There are a lot of lawns being ruined by worm casts with recent rainfall, with multi sticky mounds of soil coming through the lawn.

Earthworm infestations can be massive, with many thousands per every 100 square metres.

It is not the worms that are directly the problem, but their castings on your lawn.

CastClear is the lawn treatment for worms and their casts and when applied correctly with a garden sprayer, the product will form a barrier layer in the soil that the Earthworms do not like passing through and they will stay deeper in the soil profile.

Pesticides blamed for Bee and Insect Loss

Approximately half of all insects have been lost since 1970 due to the heavy use of pesticides, which could spell disaster for all life on Earth, a new report suggests. 

Yep, once again, Pesticides getting a slating in the Media once more.

Conservationists have called for action to be taken to halt the 'unnoticed insect apocalypse' in order to prevent a 'catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems'.

Leading ecologists at the University of Sussex, who carried out the report for the Wildlife Trusts, revealed that 40 per cent of the one million known insect species are now nearing extinction.