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

Lawn Advice for the Masses

Lawn Owners require regular advice to help them create the lawn to be proud of.

At Grass Clippings Lawn Advice blog, there are currently 1,391 technical articles to search and read to get the lawn advice required by the 1,000s of Blog Readers each week.

Our next big benchmark is to get to 3 million lifetime page views and we have 13,275 to go. 

Use the search facility top right to enter your key words of renovation, fertiliser, treatment, weeds, aeration, scarify, moles, ants, disease, turfing, seed germination, watering, the list of keywords is endless.

 

Lawn Care is a Science

The Team at Grass Clippings are pleased to boast that lawn owners have at their disposal on this Lawn Blog over 1,590 lawn related technical pages covering the wide technical subject of lawns and their care. This Lawn Blog is living up to it's name -'Grass Clippings - Home of the British Lawn.'

Our lawn advice blog site site is almost at the grand total of over 3,000,000 technical posts having been read by Visitors seeking sound advice on their green swards.

Whether you are after a little bit of advice on summer lawn care, or lawn pests, or some advice on controlling moss, scarifying your lawn or the source of a reputable turf supplier, you will find all the answers here on this lawn advice site.

 

 

Beating the drought lawn tips

With only 16.25 mm of rain in 34 days, we are very much in a drought.

The natural cumulative evaporation rate between the hours of 11:00 and 18:00 hours today be 40 mm spread across the 7 hours, so trying to water a lawn to get some vital green colour back is a bit of a losing battle as you would need to apply 40mm of water each day to keep abreast of the natural water loss from the lawns surface and turf grass plants.  It is easy to see that you will be in a water deficit in no time!

You may think that you are applying water but all you are doing is trying to reduce the water deficit.

With only 16.25 mm of rain in 34 days, we are very much in a drought.

The natural cumulative evaporation rate between the hours of 11:00 and 18:00 hours today be 40 mm spread across the 7 hours, so trying to water a lawn to get some vital green colour back is a bit of a losing battle as you would need to apply 40mm of water each day to keep abreast of the natural water loss from the lawns surface and turf grass plants.  It is easy to see that you will be in a water deficit in no time!

You may think that you are applying water but all you are doing is trying to reduce the water deficit.

With only 16.25 mm of rain in 34 days, we are very much in a drought.

The natural cumulative evaporation rate between the hours of 11:00 and 18:00 hours today be 40 mm spread across the 7 hours, so trying to water a lawn to get some vital green colour back is a bit of a losing battle as you would need to apply 40mm of water each day to keep abreast of the natural water loss from the lawns surface and turf grass plants.  It is easy to see that you will be in a water deficit in no time!

You may think that you are applying water but all you are doing is trying to reduce the water deficit.

DIY Vs Lawn Care Company

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.

Lawn Shop Open All Weekend

Now we have had some welcome rainfall in the South East, over 8mm so far since midnight, time to pick up on your lawn fertilisation and treatments.

It has been a very dry month to date with only around 1mm of rain (before the recent spell of rain) in 22 days and with a natural water loss of some 4-5mm per hour, we were in drought conditions so far as the lawns are concerned.

There are a lot of visibly brown lawns and sports turf out there so the rain today is really welcome for professional turf managers and lawn owners.

Enjoy a game of Croquet

The Croquet season is in full swing around the country with the continued dry weather ideal for putting on the ‘whites’ and engaging in this skilful and competitive sport down the croquet lawn.  Image by Liz Monahan for CreatureMag

There are a lot of croquet clubs around the UK; some have professional green keepers looking after their lawns and other use their members to assist with the day to care and maintenance of the lawns, mostly on an unpaid basis.

The Team at The Lawn Company take a pragmatic approach during their Lawn Consultancy visits to home owners and croquet club members when both have sought TLC advice in keeping their lawns and croquet lawns in tip top condition or sorting a problem with them too.

The Green Green Grass of The USA

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.

There are many differences between growing grasses in The USA and Great Britain, mostly becuase of climate.  They mostly have warm season grasses and we have cool season grasses, but to fair The USA does have many varying climate regions and in some states, our cool season grasses flourish.

Make Garden Treatments Visible

When lawn owners 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. 

Turf Managers also use what is called a foam bout marker on their large sprayers which leaves a trace blob of foam down the travelled run of the fairway so that the operator can match up with the last pass on the return run.  The foam soon disappears after an hour via sunlight.

 

When lawn owners 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. 

Turf Managers also use what is called a foam bout marker on their large sprayers which leaves a trace blob of foam down the travelled run of the fairway so that the operator can match up with the last pass on the return run.  The foam soon disappears after an hour via sunlight.

When lawn owners 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. 

Turf Managers also use what is called a foam bout marker on their large sprayers which leaves a trace blob of foam down the travelled run of the fairway so that the operator can match up with the last pass on the return run.  The foam soon disappears after an hour via sunlight.

When lawn owners 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. 

Turf Managers also use what is called a foam bout marker on their large sprayers which leaves a trace blob of foam down the travelled run of the fairway so that the operator can match up with the last pass on the return run.  The foam soon disappears after an hour via sunlight.

When lawn owners 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. 

Turf Managers also use what is called a foam bout marker on their large sprayers which leaves a trace blob of foam down the travelled run of the fairway so that the operator can match up with the last pass on the return run.  The foam soon disappears after an hour via sunlight.

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.

Get your lawns fertilised now!

It is the Summer Season on the Turf!  With Ascot Races on next week the social season has started for many.  All we now is a return to the fine and sunny weather!

With some welcome rainfall for many a lawn and gardeners over the weekend, there is a lot of Red Thread Disease cropping up on lawns in the South East and it is now time to give your lawns their second feed of the year.  Make good use of the rain forecast for this week to get your lawns in tip top condition for the middle summer months.  Best dig the BBQ out and see if it is in good order for that surprise BBQ on a warm summers evening!

It is the Summer Season on the Turf!  With Ascot Races on next week the social season has started for many.  All we now is a return to the fine and sunny weather!

With some welcome rainfall for many a lawn and gardeners over the weekend, there is a lot of Red Thread Disease cropping up on lawns in the South East and it is now time to give your lawns their second feed of the year.  Make good use of the rain forecast for this week to get your lawns in tip top condition for the middle summer months.  Best dig the BBQ out and see if it is in good order for that surprise BBQ on a warm summers evening!

Pesticide Training Modules Available for Self-Study

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?

This week, we have been training at a Local Authority, which was fun as it was a bit cold doing the practical for PA6A Knapsack!  We survived!  If you do not have time to take work time off for training, there is an alternative service we can provide for candidates needing their NPTC paperwork.  Read on:

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?

This week, we have been training at a Local Authority, which was fun as it was a bit cold doing the practical for PA6A Knapsack!  We survived!  If you do not have time to take work time off for training, there is an alternative service we can provide for candidates needing their NPTC paperwork.  Read on:

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?

This week, we have been training at a Local Authority, which was fun as it was a bit cold doing the practical for PA6A Knapsack!  We survived!  If you do not have time to take work time off for training, there is an alternative service we can provide for candidates needing their NPTC paperwork.  Read on:

Watering a newly turved 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.

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.

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.

Nematodes - a simple and effective way to control multi garden pests

Forget about the once complicated and daunting world of pest control; the modern domestic gardener uses the sophisticated, yet simple, biological method of simply watering on nematodes.

Nematodes are micro-organisms which occur naturally in the soil where they hunt down and attack pests, with each nematode species having its own specific prey, meaning that they will harm their prey, and only their prey.  BASF has the largest specialist nematode production facility in the EU – and the only one in Britain - growing trillions of beneficial nematodes for use in their Nemasys range of pest controls.

Forget about the once complicated and daunting world of pest control; the modern domestic gardener uses the sophisticated, yet simple, biological method of simply watering on nematodes.

Nematodes are micro-organisms which occur naturally in the soil where they hunt down and attack pests, with each nematode species having its own specific prey, meaning that they will harm their prey, and only their prey.  BASF has the largest specialist nematode production facility in the EU – and the only one in Britain - growing trillions of beneficial nematodes for use in their Nemasys range of pest controls.

Forget about the once complicated and daunting world of pest control; the modern domestic gardener uses the sophisticated, yet simple, biological method of simply watering on nematodes.

Nematodes are micro-organisms which occur naturally in the soil where they hunt down and attack pests, with each nematode species having its own specific prey, meaning that they will harm their prey, and only their prey.  BASF has the largest specialist nematode production facility in the EU – and the only one in Britain - growing trillions of beneficial nematodes for use in their Nemasys range of pest controls.

Forget about the once complicated and daunting world of pest control; the modern domestic gardener uses the sophisticated, yet simple, biological method of simply watering on nematodes.

Nematodes are micro-organisms which occur naturally in the soil where they hunt down and attack pests, with each nematode species having its own specific prey, meaning that they will harm their prey, and only their prey.  BASF has the largest specialist nematode production facility in the EU – and the only one in Britain - growing trillions of beneficial nematodes for use in their Nemasys range of pest controls.

Summer Lawn Weed Control

Have you ever wondered why selective herbicides kill weeds and not the lawn grasses?

The weeds in the lawn are really going for it as there is plenty of moisture and few dry days to apply a selective weed killer.

The internal biological make up of weeds and grasses is different. The weeds, like trees and shrubs have Cambium Cells. These cells provide support in the main trunk and branches of the tree or weed. The selective weed killer is a growth hormone that mimics the actual growth hormone 'Gibberelline' - the plant hormone responsible for secondary thickening. The selective turf herbicide is absorbed by the weeds and after a while, the weeds go into super growth, with their stems twisting and distorting. The weeds actually outgrow themselves and when their overall structure has literally had it, they die. Grasses do not have Cambium Cells so although they might absorb some of the chemical, it has no affect - if applied correctly in the first place!

Have you ever wondered why selective herbicides kill weeds and not the lawn grasses?

The weeds in the lawn are really going for it as there is plenty of moisture and few dry days to apply a selective weed killer.

The internal biological make up of weeds and grasses is different. The weeds, like trees and shrubs have Cambium Cells. These cells provide support in the main trunk and branches of the tree or weed. The selective weed killer is a growth hormone that mimics the actual growth hormone 'Gibberelline' - the plant hormone responsible for secondary thickening. The selective turf herbicide is absorbed by the weeds and after a while, the weeds go into super growth, with their stems twisting and distorting. The weeds actually outgrow themselves and when their overall structure has literally had it, they die. Grasses do not have Cambium Cells so although they might absorb some of the chemical, it has no affect - if applied correctly in the first place!

Have you ever wondered why selective herbicides kill weeds and not the lawn grasses?

The weeds in the lawn are really going for it as there is plenty of moisture and few dry days to apply a selective weed killer.

The internal biological make up of weeds and grasses is different. The weeds, like trees and shrubs have Cambium Cells. These cells provide support in the main trunk and branches of the tree or weed. The selective weed killer is a growth hormone that mimics the actual growth hormone 'Gibberelline' - the plant hormone responsible for secondary thickening. The selective turf herbicide is absorbed by the weeds and after a while, the weeds go into super growth, with their stems twisting and distorting. The weeds actually outgrow themselves and when their overall structure has literally had it, they die. Grasses do not have Cambium Cells so although they might absorb some of the chemical, it has no affect - if applied correctly in the first place!