🌾 Lawn & Turf
Patchy, dry or yellow lawn: how to revive it
How to revive a patchy, dry or yellow lawn: diagnosis of the most frequent causes and a…
Lawn: how to sow it, care for it and revive it
A good-looking lawn doesn't depend on a miracle product, but on doing three things well and consistently: mowing at the right height, watering deeply but rarely and feeding at the right time. With that, the grass thickens on its own, covers the gaps and leaves no room for weeds or moss. Most lawn problems - bare patches, yellowing, moss, sponginess - are symptoms of a failure in one of those three things, or of compaction and excess thatch.
In this section you have step-by-step guides to sow a lawn from scratch (timing, ground preparation, seed choice, rate and the critical watering of the first three weeks); to care for the lawn through the year, with the cutting height by season, how much and when to water, which fertiliser to use and a month-by-month task calendar; and to revive a ruined lawn - patchy, dry or yellow - with the plan of scarifying, aerating, top-dressing and overseeding, and the diagnosis of each type of damage.
If you have a large lawn or little time, a robot mower keeps the mowing up to date and mulches constantly. And if the underlying problem is the soil (it waterlogs, it's compacted), start with the soil and compost section.
Lawn & Turf articles
🌾 Lawn & Turf
How to sow a lawn step by step (and when to do it)
A complete guide to sowing a lawn from scratch: when to sow, how to prepare the ground, which seed…
🌾 Lawn & Turf
Lawn care: watering, mowing, feeding and a month-by-month calendar
A practical guide to lawn care: cutting height by season, how much and when to water, which…
Frequently asked questions
When is the best time to sow a lawn?
In autumn, from mid-September to mid-October: the soil is warm, rain helps, there are few weeds and the lawn has all autumn, winter and spring to establish before summer. Spring (April to mid-May) is the second option, but with more weed pressure and less root for the first summer.
What height should the lawn be cut at?
4-5 cm in spring and autumn, and 6-8 cm in summer (a longer blade shades its base and copes better with drought). Never cut more than a third of the height at once, or go below 3 cm except on ornamental fine-grass lawns with intensive watering and feeding.
How do I get rid of moss in the lawn for good?
Moss is a symptom of a weak lawn: shade, compacted soil, waterlogging, mowing too low or lack of feed. You can remove it with iron sulphate and a rake, but it will return unless you fix the cause: aerate, improve drainage, raise the cutting height, reduce shade and feed so the lawn thickens and displaces it.
How do I fix a patchy lawn?
Scratch the surface of the patch, spread a thin layer of top dressing (sand + compost), spread seed generously, cover with a bit more top dressing, press with your foot and water lightly 2-3 times a day for 2-3 weeks. The best time is autumn; for large patches, treat them as a new sowing.
How much should you water the lawn?
Between 3 and 6 litres per m² a week in spring and 25-35 litres per m² a week at the height of summer, rain included. Always in a few long dawn soaks rather than many short ones: a deep soak makes the root go down and the lawn cope with the heat.
What's the difference between scarifying and aerating the lawn?
Scarifying is running vertical blades that pull out the thatch (the layer of dead debris between the grass and the soil). Aerating is making holes in the soil to decompact it so the root can breathe. They're different things; sometimes done one after the other, once a year, in autumn or spring.