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

Rain, Rain, Go Away

It's golf's premier event this weekend but after a couple of dry weeks, the weather is taking it's toll on the turf at St Andrews - The Home of Golf. 

Play was suspended at 06:46 today at the 144th Open Championship due to relentless rain and waterlogged golf greens.

Recognised the world over as the Home of Golf, St Andrews Links has borne witness to over 600 years of golfing history. That the game evolved and developed into its final form here has never been in question.

Lawn mower noise on a Sunday

We get a lot of comments on this lawn advice blog.  Most are lawn owners seeking answers to lawn dilemmas. 

Occassionally, we get some thought provoking observations of life...

Woody says: 'I wonder sometimes if I'm the only one with ears on our street.

It's so noisy every bank holiday and every Sunday morning. Many of my neighbours have opted for petrol mowers or electric hover mowers, why I cannot imagine, none of their lawns can be more than 10 feet by 10. I could mow them with my Dad's old pre war push cylinder mower in 10 minutes flat.

Tips on watering a new lawn

Turf is a live product and will quickly curl up and go brown and die if it is not laid quickly following it's arrival on site and the watering process commences straight away, especially if no rain is forecast.

You do not have to drench it, adopt a little and often approach and take time to physically look at the turf and underneath it to see if your watering efforts are effective.

There is nothing like the eveness of natural rain compared to artificial watering and remember that a lot of the water volume you apply will naturally evaporate if the weather is hot and/or windy during the turfing process and afterwards. Once turf dries out, it is very difficult to get wet again and if you over water, the turf will literally rot.

Glyphosate is safe claims USA Agency

The US Environmental Protection Agency has found that glyphosate "doesn't pose any threat to the endocrine system".

The International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) recently classified of glyphosate as a group 2A "probable carcinogen".

But since 2009, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been reviewing the test orders (requests for data) of several widely used herbicides and pesticides, including glyphosate, as part of the Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program (EDSP).

Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that can interfere with hormone systems and cause adverse developmental, reproductive, neurological, and immune effects in mammals.

Croquet needs YOU!

Despite a rise in the sport's popularity, most players will have disappeared from the UK in just 22 years

Commonly perceived as a sport for the elderly, croquet has seen a growth in popularity in the last few years. But now there are fears the sport could die out by 2037 if the numbers continue to fall.

Despite a rise in the number of players and a growth in croquet clubs, the latest poll has found the average player is aged 68, and most will have disappeared from the UK in just 22 years.

Interesting facts about Moles

When waging a campaign, it always pays to know your foe. Moles are highly specialised creatures, and it is worth understanding them if you intend to try and catch them. Here, we've put together a handy fact sheet on the common (European) mole so you can do the background on your target.

There are 29 species of mole that can be found across North America, Europe, and Asia. Similar but technically unrelated species are also found in Southern Africa and South America. The European Mole (or common mole) is widely distributed across Great Britain and Continental Europe although it is notably absent from Ireland.

Lawn Consultancy Service

The great thing about being into lawns is that you are always in demand and undertaking Lawn Consultancy contracts forms a big part of our business concept.  We are also rarely out of work when the weather lets us perform our usual work activities.

Having said this, to acquire a degree in turf culture takes years of study and examinations and also years of 'on the job training' too which supplements the theory, the final degree examinations being some 21 hours long. And you thought it was just 'grass'...

Enter The Telegraph 'creatively striped lawn' Competition

Fancy winning a new lawnmower?  With The Telegraph, you can!

There’s nothing more stereotypically British than afternoon tea on the lawn – and when that lawn is perfectly manicured, what could be more inviting? These days, however, the nation’s lawns are shaking off their traditional regimented stripes, possibly thanks to the influence of sports turf experts who compete to out-do each other’s patterns.

The Telegraph Gardening Team have been collecting readers’ pictures of creatively striped lawns since May. Jeremy Hawton has mown his lawn to match the contours of the garden. Jeremy, from Waterlooville, Hampshire, says: “This is a subtle take on the parallel stripe, the seductive curves draw the eye to the silver birches at the top right-hand side of the garden. This style achieves the desired effect of making a boring, long rectangular garden look wider and more interesting than it is.”

The Lawn Shop gets a summer make over

They say that the best time to do some decoration is in the summer months and taking the advice, the Team at The Lawn Shop are doing exactly this and currently have the decorators in.

The Lawn Shop, part of The The Lawn Company, was established in 2006 and is a market leader in the online sales of lawn care products to home owners, gardeners and landscapers alike.  Since opening their online lawn shop doors, the lawn care products such as lawn fertiliser, lawn weed killer and moss killer has shot out it and assisted many a lawn owner turn their swath of green into a lawn to be proud of.

American Lawns Vs the Great British Lawn

Today is Independence Day in the USA, marked by a national federal holiday for one and all, with private and public events celebrating the Declaration of Independence on July 4th 1776, independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. 

There are simply millions of homes with lawns in The USA.  It was in the USA that the service industry of lawn treatments and care was born and that service industry is a multi billion dollar business.

Using a Knapsack or Garden Sprayer

Picking up a knapsack sprayer for the first time and wondering how to calibrate it can be a scary moment for any lawn owner.

Applications of lawn treatment products to your lawns are a finely calibrated process - making sure you get the correct amount of treatment product across the chosen square metres of lawn in the correct amount of water will ensure that you do not have a sleepless night.  A watering can is not the best tool to use to apply liquid lawn care products.  Trust our knowledge on this.

Turfing or Seeding your Lawn - which one is best?

The process of renovating your lawn from a brown field site is the same up to the finished prepared soil surface whether you are seeding or turfing as careful seed bed or turf bed preparation is key should you wish to make life easy for yourself in the short and long term.

The decision to renovate your lawn may have arrived because it is too far gone to renovate by trying to introduce some more grasses into the sward or it maybe because the complete garden has had a make over and the law is like to carpet of the room outside.