Cheat Sheet – The Complete 1 Page Lawn Guide

Cheat Sheet by LawnGreen – The Complete 1 Page Lawn Guide – for Homeowners and Lawn Lovers

When it comes to Lawn Care – the right knowledge is everything!

Here’s the Complete 1 page Lawn Guide to knowing everything you need for a great looking lawn.

1. First rule is “toss the RAKE out”.

2. Now onto mowing – you can never mow a lawn too often, however, you can mow a lawn too short. So the general rule (for most grasses especially Buffalo & Queensland Blue Couch) is you need to mow the lawn around 30mm or 1 inch high at least

a. Buffalo & Queensland Blue Couch around 30mm high – the reason being is they only have Stolons (above ground runners) so if cut them too short you will badly damage them or, worst still, kill them

b. Kikuyu, Couch (aka Green Couch) & Zoysia can be cut at any height, long or short, whatever turns you on – these grasses can, however be cut back to soil (scalping/de-thatching) in Summer (but not in Winter) as they recover quickly (after fertilizer and rain) – all because they have both Stolons and more importantly Rhizomes (below ground runners)

c. Rye grass and fescue – don’t worry about these as they are not that common where we live here in Sydney NSW Australia – however, can look great in winter if you want to spice up your kikuyu or couch lawn – same as what they do on the SCG in Autumn and Winter

d. If the grass is overgrown, only ever mow 1/3 of the grass height at a time so you don’t scalp the lawn

e. Going into Autumn & Winter mow the grass a notch or 2 higher, more surface area means the grass will photosynthesise more (and continue to green up) with less sunlight hours

3. Next, make sure you toss the rake out. Whenever you feel the urge to rake the leaves, debris and rubbish from the lawn, then DON’T! Raking the lawn can cause the lawn to weaken by tearing grass runners away from the thatch, not to mention that the leaves and debris on the lawn have already weakened the grass. So how do we keep the lawn clean? We mow the lawn all the time with a catcher. So, even in the middle of winter and there are leaves on the lawn and the lawn doesn’t need mowing, we still mow the lawn with a catcher. If there are lots of leaves every week for a few weeks then we make sure to mow (with a catcher). If you think about it, when there are leaves on the lawn, a bit of shade and the grass is slowing down (especially in winter), then we don’t want to damage or weaken the grass anymore by RAKING it.

4. Mowing schedule a) Every week in summer b) Every 2 weeks in Autumn & Spring c) Every 3 weeks in Winter, and more if leaves etc need to be picked up

5. Watering schedule (does not apply during Government enforced water restrictions) a) Always water for 1 hour and as often as you mow ie heavy but infrequent watering b) Every week in Summer c) Every 2 weeks in Spring and Autumn d) Nil in winter from April to October

6. Feeding & fertiliser schedule – every 3 months with a good Lawn fertilizer with NPK similar to 22:0:5 or higher Nitrogen

7. Weed control – this is starting to get into more difficult territory – no time to cover this today

8. Lawn Insect ALERTS for Army Worm in the months from January through to May – keep a watchful eye for lawn damage by army worm, best products from Bunnings include those with an active called Bifenthrin

9. Weed ALERTS for wintergrass, oxalis and other winter weeds – from May to December

10. Mowers – rotary mowers are just fine, mow each week at perpendicular for results similar to cylinder mowers

11. Last Rule: Don’t believe everything your Lawn Mowing contractor tells you – sorry to say this but they don’t know the technical side of lawns, and more than likely had NIL training in Turf Care (except for starting up a machine).

Note: If, after reading this Cheat Sheet, and it is all too much, then call the Lawn Expert on 0412.766.955

LawnGreen’s [Sydney Lawn Care Service] is very popular amongst its customers for the following reasons at https://LawnGreen.com.au/Why-Choose-Our-Lawn-Care-Service/ 

If you need new turf (including complete soil preparation, turf supply and installation) whether its any one of the many Aussie Buffalo grasses or any other grasses like Couch, Kikuyu and Zoysia then give these guys a call at https://lawnsolutionsaustralia.com.au/ or https://www.myhometurf.com.au/ 

Whether you engage a Lawn Care Service like ours or not it is really important to look after your lawn properly. You can save yourself a lot of grief by downloading our 1 Page Lawn Care Cheat Sheet at https://LawnGreen.com.au/The-Lawn-Lovers-Cheat-Sheet-the-complete-1-page-Lawn-Guide/ 

Written by: Gerry Faehrmann, Managing Director, Lawn Green Pty Ltd, www.LawnGreen.com.au © 2020