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

Controlling an Attack of Rust Disease on your Lawn

We are now in the late summer months and will soon be in autumn and that time of year when you go outside and shrug your shoulders at the dropping night time temperatures.

Not suggesting that the summer is over as the weather might be unseasonably warmer this weekend after a lot of rain. 

The last time I thought about treating Rust was on my old Mini Metro that was rather prone to it on the front panels - well it was almost a 100 rust bucket to be honest!  Glad to see that car construction has moved on a bit since the early 80's.

Now we bet you were not aware of the fact that your lawn can suffer from an outbreak of Rust?

Not suggesting that the summer is over as the weather might be unseasonably warmer this weekend after a lot of rain. 

The last time I thought about treating Rust was on my old Mini Metro that was rather prone to it on the front panels - well it was almost a 100 rust bucket to be honest!  Glad to see that car construction has moved on a bit since the early 80's.

Spray Dye for Garden Sprayers

It is now time to get out in the garden and catch up with your lawn and garden weed control.

How much easier it would be to make garden chemical treatments if you can see where you have an have not sprayed by colouring the spray solution with a spray indicator dye called Indigo Garden Spray Dye.

Your treatment experience will be a bit like painting by numbers when your were five in play group.

No Mow May

The ultimate concept of No Mow May is not really to stop mowing in May specifically, or to leave whole swathes of your lawn unmown. Behind the catchy title is a simple concept: get people to change their habits so that they mow less – ideally once a month – and possibly even leave a patch or two of grass to grow long.

In our view, just getting your lawn out of winter and into spring and summer takes a lot of work and effort.  Letting your lawn go wild for a month will undo all your hard work and create a thin sward.

April Showers, a Month Late!

Britain is set for a warm and sunny week; the Daily Mail reports with temperatures hitting nearly 20C in some areas – but the milder weather is likely to be interspersed with rain, hail and thunder.

Forecasters joked that April showers were 'a month late' as the Met Office predicted the South of England could see highs of 18C today, while northern regions areas are expected to reach 16C.

Temperatures were already at 12C in East Anglia by 7am today on what was the first frost free morning for at least a fortnight, while the rest of the UK was also mild with the mercury between 8C and 11C.

Is it really May? Feels like Winter out there

It still feels like winter out there and we have not yet seen the spring burst of grass growth.  April was the third coldest April in almost 140 years, the Met Office has said, and had the lowest average minimum temperature since 1922.

April was also the frostiest and driest on record. The Met Office said just 4.7mm of rainfall had fallen in England since the start of the month. The driest on record is 1938, when there was just 6.7mm of rain.  We have now had some decent rain to help lift the lawns out of the winbter doldrums.

Soluble Iron to Retard Moss and Colour Up Lawns

We all prefer a weekend when the weather is a little kinder and this coming weekend is not scheduled to be much of a get out in the garden weekend for most with some wind and rain forecast.  It is still so cold!

If you do get chance to get outside and inspect your garden and lawn, try and spare a thought of how you plan to get the lawn out of the winter doldrums.

To help you - some Soluble Iron to retard any Winter moss and give the lawn a bit of colour would help greatly.

Lawn Quencher solves Lawn Dry Patches

We have only seen 22.5mm of rain in the South East in the months of April and May to date and as a result are almost in drought conditions with lawn dry patches appearing in carefully tended green swards.

Dry patches that are hard to re-wet are the primary causes of lawn failure.  If a lawn is renovated, it is always these long lasting dry areas that are the root cause of any seed failing to germinate and establish in these well marked and visual areas.

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.

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.

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.

Indigo Garden Spray Dye prevents garden treatment errors

When Gardeners make liquid or chemical applications to their lawn, they are faced with a big dilemma - how can they mark where they have sprayed already?

Professional Turf Managers have been using Spray Pattern Indicator Dyes for decades but these have never been widely available before to the amateur lawn owner.

When Gardeners make liquid or chemical applications to their lawn, they are faced with a big dilemma - how can they mark where they have sprayed already?

Professional Turf Managers have been using Spray Pattern Indicator Dyes for decades but these have never been widely available before to the amateur lawn owner.

When Gardeners make liquid or chemical applications to their lawn, they are faced with a big dilemma - how can they mark where they have sprayed already?

Professional Turf Managers have been using Spray Pattern Indicator Dyes for decades but these have never been widely available before to the amateur lawn owner.

When Gardeners make liquid or chemical applications to their lawn, they are faced with a big dilemma - how can they mark where they have sprayed already?

Professional Turf Managers have been using Spray Pattern Indicator Dyes for decades but these have never been widely available before to the amateur lawn owner.

When Gardeners make liquid or chemical applications to their lawn, they are faced with a big dilemma - how can they mark where they have sprayed already?

Professional Turf Managers have been using Spray Pattern Indicator Dyes for decades but these have never been widely available before to the amateur lawn owner.

Take the hassle out of using a Garden Sprayer

Indigo Garden Spray Dye is an innovative product that you simply add to your garden sprayer to help you make liquid applications / treatments to your lawn and garden.

Benefits:

Spray Pattern Indicator Dye

Saves Time, Money, Product,

Lets You See Where You Have Or Have Not Sprayed

Indicates When Your Sprayer Is Clean

Takes The Guess Work Out Of Making Liquid Treatments In The Garden

All this for £13.00 inc P&P.

Available from Amazon and The Lawn Shop

Controlling Leatherjacket Larvae

We are all aware of "Daddy Long Legs" flying around in the late summer months, being chased by the cat and dog with children finding fun pulling the legs off the fly like insects!

What you may not be aware of is the devastating effect the larvae of the insects can have - literally stripping a lawn bare! Do not under estimate them!

What are they?

Leatherjackets are the Larvae of the Crane Fly or Daddy Long Legs, as they are more commonly known. The fully grown Larvae are typically up to 4 cm in length.

What you may not be aware of is the devastating effect the larvae of the insects can have - literally stripping a lawn bare! Do not under estimate them!

What are they?

Leatherjackets are the Larvae of the Crane Fly or Daddy Long Legs, as they are more commonly known. The fully grown Larvae are typically up to 4 cm in length.

Bank Holiday Lawn Care

It's been a wet and windy week and certainly not conducive to gardening with a wet Friday start to the Bank Holiday Weekend and hopefully some improving weather but not really hot.

If you have taken advantage of the 'Eat out to Help Out', you may need to do some gardening to get rid of some additional pounds and what better way than to mow the lawn in a couple of directions and trim those lawn edges.

Making Weed Control Liquid Treatments Visible

If you are heading out into the garden to get to grips with some weeds that have appeared in the hard standing or on the lawn, then use Indigo Garden Spray Dye to help you see where you have sprayed in your garden sprayer.

It is a short term highly visible spray indicator dye that you mix with your spray solution in the sprayer and then allows you to quickly see where you have or have not sprayed. Search for it on Amazon or buy direct from The Lawn Shop for £9.99 for a 80 ml pack sufficient to 'dye' up to 80 litres of spray solution.  (plus P&P)

Available from The Lawn Shop and Amazon - Search for Indigo Garden Spray Dye

August Lawn Care Advice

As August arrives with us, a warm week ahead is predicted for the South East at least.  In July, there were 13 days with some rain and 22.8mm of rainfall locally to our office and we always state that any rainfall in July is always welcome.

August can be a hard month for the garden and lawn as you spend a lot of time spent on watering the garden and trying to keep it all going and looking great with maybe a family break thrown in for good measure.

Garden Sprayer Dilemma

Here's the dilemma. You have a lawn or gravel driveway where there are weeds and you need to treat them to get rid.

You purchase the control products, get the garden sprayer out and follow the label and mix up the treatment solution and then get to work applying product.

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.