Garden lawn turfing from Amazon Landscaping

Imagine Stepping Out Onto A Perfect Lawn. The cool, crisp grass under your feet, the fragrance of freshly mown turf, a verdure of unblemished turf framing your garden. The perfect stress buster after a hard day’s work.

A healthy lawn is the crowning glory of any garden. 

Nitrogen and iron fertilisers keep the grass green and looking good, but only for a while.

Both fertilisers are made and sold in huge quantities but are the result of expensive and environmentally damaging industrial processes. Much nitrogen is formed from natural gas and some is also combined with sulphates and, while producing quick growth, also harms the soil

environment. Atthesametimeitcanlayinthegrass surface waiting for your children and pets to absorb through handling toys and through cuts and abrasions. They can also be brought into the home and spread onto carpets, curtains and furniture.

Iron products give grass an extra boost in chlorophyll, the green pigment used by plants to capture energy from sunlight convert carbon dioxide (CO2) into sugars (more of this later). But iron also has a deleterious effect on the soil. Over use of iron, as practised by many lawn care companies, causes soil to become acid and reduces

the numbers of beneficial soil microbes. Consequences? More fertiliser is applied to

make the grass greener!

Grass grown in soils low in microbial life require more fertiliser applications to help the plant take up enough nutrients for healthy growth. What are in these fertilisers? Mainly nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

The same ingredients as in bombs!

Doesn’t that make you think about what you are allowing to be applied to your lawn?

Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium – ingredients of fertilisers AND bombs

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9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

An example of the concern over the use of iron based products can be seen at www.gardening-resources.com/the-debate-over-the-use-of-ironite, and www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a914140860~db=all~jumptype=rss

Cheap fertilisers are made from a range of synthetic materials, including natural gas. No wonder that when over applied, soils under turf look like this (below).

The over application of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides leads to a host of problems for the lawn owner;

• Vastly reduced soil microbes • High levels of thatch • Constant spraying for diseases • Much fertiliser is washed through the soil, or causes salt problems • A soil that cannot support grass for family use and enjoyment

• Constant mowing A healthy soil contains soil microbes that;

• Free up nutrients – a free source of fertiliser • Reduced organic matter , or thatch • Reduced turf diseases due to beneficial microbes suppressing pathogenic fungi

How is this achieved?

Left: A soil depleted of microbial life has no life at all

Right: A soil in desperate need of Rehabilitation!

9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

Let’s look further at the food of life – SOIL

In every gram of soil there are approximately;

• bacteria – up to 10, 000, 000, 000 • actinomycetes 10,500,000,000 • fungi 105, 000, 000 • micro-algae 103,000,000

• protozoa 10,300,000 • nematodes 10, 100 • other invertebrates 10, 300, 000 .

A square meter of soil may contain 30-300 earthworms. There are more organisms in a gram of soil, right now, than there are human beings that have ever lived on this Earth!

These microscopic organisms are vital for soil health and for life on earth.

Soil microbes are the secondary stage of the Soil Food Web and without these amazing creaturesnonutrientswouldbeavailableforplantuptake. Noplants,nolifeonearth.

A handful of soil contains a whole army of free helpers – if we encourage them

The Soil Food Web - vital for understanding soil management

What do soil microbes actually do? Well, mostly they wait for something to eat. In unfriendly conditions many soil micro-organisms have the ability to hibernate and come back out once the conditions are right for them.

When presented with a source of food, eg organic matter, they break it down using enzymes and secretions to access the minerals required for growth, eg carbon for an energy source, nitrogenforproteinbuildingandsulphurforphysiologicalprocesses. Theseelementsare then either excreted into the soil environment or are released when the microbe dies and decays. It is only when this has happened that plants are able to take up nutrients.

Let’s look at this subject in another way:

Carbon is a crucial component to all living organisms. Everything relies on it, from the largest animal, to the tiniest of microbes. We couldn’t survive without it.

The order of the five essential nutrient elements in soil fertility is carbon (50%), air (44%), nitrogen (5%), phosphorous (0.5%) and sulphur (0.5%). There is a large marketing focus for lawn owners to add or replace the last three nutrients, but because carbon is almost impossible to apply to turf through conventional fertilisers, it is mostly ignored or assumed that nature will take care of it (even though there is ten to a hundred times more carbon required).

In a natural system the plant has a relationship with soil organisms, including microbes, fungi, bacteria and algae. When the plant interacts with this soil life, it releases carbohydrates that help feed energy to them. It is a symbiotic relationship – the plant receives nutrients, the soil life gets energy in return, and carbon is added to the soil. However, acidic water-soluble fertilisers can disrupt this process when applied to soils.

Carbohydrates are releasedbyplant roots in return for nutrients

The Carbon Cycle

PlantsabsorbCO2 & make carbohydrates (ph ot osyn th esis)

AnInterconnecting Relationship Between Plants and Soil Microbes

Soil microbes breakdown organic matter & release nutrients in return for an energy source

Microbes release CO2

9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

First, the acidic fertilisers can kill off the beneficial microbes by osmotic shock. They, and other beneficial soil life, will not survive in an acid environment; a diversity of soil life only thrives in one that has a neutral pH (pH 6.5-7.5 in top 10mm of soil).

Second, because the fertiliser is water soluble, the plant becomes lazy and stops relying for its existence on root systems and soil organisms for its food. It doesn’t have to sacrifice its own carbohydrates. Instead it can now save the energy for itself and put it all into growing above ground. Encouraging this system completely ignores the dead grass roots and stems, excess nutrients, fungicides, herbicides etc that all eventually need to be quickly dealt with and purified by the soil life. Acidic water-soluble fertilisers can force-feed the plant excessive nitrogen, phosphorous and sulphur. The plant can then have trouble obtaining enough carbon to maintain the balance, and the stated ratios above become distorted.

Third, the microbes needed to recycle the waste on the soil surface (if they haven’t already been killed), lie in a dormant state waiting for the storm to pass. Even though they can get energy from the recycling process, this is insufficient compared to the 40% the plant is capable of pushing down into the soil. The efficiency of the recycling process declines, and importantsoilandplantnutrients,andrun-offarenotabsorbed. Thisproducesanunhealthy thatch layer which can then foster such problems as fungal disease.

The answer is a simple one. Sugars are one of the very few simple products that can be applied to turf to help supply a source of carbon. When left to react with soil microbes, the carbon bound up in the structure of sugar is released. Beneficial soil microbes use this carbon for growth and they excrete CO2 which is released from the soil through the surface and supplies the plant with additional carbon dioxide above the ground to help complement the natural resource already in the atmosphere; increasing the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere automatically increases photosynthesis and therefore plant growth. In fact, the more intensive turf management gets with higher rates of NPK being applied, the bigger the requirement to restore the natural balance in the turf by supplying extra carbon. Organic material is mineralised to carbon dioxide by microbes, and in soils where carbon is most limited a rapid organic cycle is the key to healthy turf.

Applications of sugars maintain that important symbiotic relationship with the soil life. The plant has ready access to phosphorous, nitrogen and other important nutrients, and the rapid organic cycle strengthens the carbon supply. The grass can then more easily feed the soil life, have the correct nutrients fed to it in return, and still have enough energy for itself. The soil life are able to do their job too – absorbing and recycling the waste and potential run-off from the thatch layer and controlling pathogen organisms.

Back on the surface the turf is not necessarily growing as quickly as if it were fed water- soluble fertilisers, but the grass now has plenty of energy, or carbohydrates.

Carbohydrates – giving energy to your turf and life to your soil

Now that you have an idea of our ethos, please read on. If you require further information please contact us on:

1.

Decide on the use of your lawn.

This will dictate all your maintenance practices. You may decide your lawn is to be of bowling green quality, but then allow children and dogs to play all over it. Or you may want to use the lawn for football practice with the kids and expect the bowling green appearance also. Both expectations are a recipe for disappointment. The choices you have are;

1. High quality ornamental lawn to the standards of a bowling green 2. High quality lawn that receives some light usage during the summer only 3. Good quality lawn that is used by the family for limited recreation use in the summer 4. Medium quality lawn that receives wear from recreation usage 5. Low quality that requires minimal maintenance but needs to look good

To help you choose the correct standard for your lawn think about;

Will I have children, your own or someone else’s, wanting to play outside the house? Regular wear and tear from playing games will ruin a high quality lawn. You can still have a good lawn but you will need to have grass species and maintenance practices that create a hard wearing turf sward. You

may also have to limit the amount of time spent playing on the lawn.

Do I own pets that need to run around the garden for exercise, eg dogs, rabbits or guinea pigs?

These pets will destroy areas of turf if not managed properly. Dogs should not be allowed to use the lawn as a toilet and rabbit and guinea pig hutches will need to be moved daily around the lawn to prevent bare patches appearing.

Do I have the time to spend three times a week mowing and tending the lawn? High quality lawns require you to spend time on them. Small blemishes, weeds and thin areas of grass will need to be attended to and mowing will need to be carried out daily if a bowling green is to be your ambition. Thismayentailjustafewhoursperweek,includingmowing,butitwillneedyour regular attention.

Do I need, and am prepared, to remove some trees/shrubs that affect areas of the lawn?

Removing trees is an expensive operation, as well as having emotional ties. However, if your lawn is heavily shaded, or you have tress with surface or very shallow roots, you may not have any other option. Grass grows best in full sunlight but some species can grow in some

Fantastic lawn, but are you sure you can spend the time and money to keep it like this?

Are you trying to produce a ‘bowling green’ while cutting at 50mm?

9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

shade if maintained for these conditions, ie longer height of cut, moss treatments and correct fertilising.

How much money am I willing to spend on a lawn?

Surprisingly, a high quality lawn is not necessarily going to cost you the most to maintain. Mowingwillbethelargestamountspentintermsoftimeandexpense. Ahardwearinglawn that has to survive children playing on it all summer is far more demanding than a lawn that receivesnoorverylittlefoottraffic. Aryegrassbased,hardwearinglawnrequiresmore fertiliser and regular repair work than the fine textured grass species used on a high quality lawn. However, high quality lawns are more susceptible to grass diseases, thatch and difficult growing conditions and will require more to be spent on some products.

You need to be realistic about your choice of the standard you wish to see your lawn in. To maintain a good quality lawn will take time and expense. If you allow the wrong use your efforts will be wasted and lead to frustration and defeat.

Now let’s move onto the correct grass species for your chosen use.....

9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

Golden Rule:

2.

Use the right species of grass

There are between 150 and 160 different species of grass growing in the U.K. Of these, there are four species which we can use in creating good quality lawns. Choosing the correct species is vital to get the effect we want. For example, a high quality lawn requires grass species that can survive at low mowing heights, and a lawn used for recreation needs grass species that can recover from heavy wear. Some grass species can be used successfully in challenging environments for healthy grass growth, e.g. shade, drought and heavy use, as long as the correct maintenance practices are carried out.

There are four species of grass used in lawn care, with a whole host of cultivated varieties, or cultivars, specially bred for characteristics such as colour, drought and disease tolerance.

1. Fescue(Festucarubraspp.) They are tolerant of environmental stresses such as drought ,shade and metal toxicity. There are three main sub-species used in lawn care; • Chewings Fescue – a tufted variety used in seed

mixes to provide infill for more open growing

species. • Slender Creeping Fescue – a fine-leaved variety

that spreads by using underground runners. Can tolerate very dry conditions and low heights of cut.

• Strong Creeping Red Fescue - a coarser leaved variety that the Slender Creeping Red. Tolerant of shade conditions it cannot be cut as low as other fescues.

2. Bentgrass(Agrostisspp.) Thesegrassesprovidethesuperiorqualitylawnsandare used on golf and bowling greens. However, they require a high level of maintenance and

can be prone to disease outbreak and thatch production. used in lawn care; • Browntop Bentgrass – used extensively in most

seed mixes, especially with fescue to produce a

high quality lawn. • Creeping Bentgrass – an aggressively growing

Two main sub-species are

species that produces the best quality turf, but at aprice. Theseedisexpensiveandamature lawn will need to be cut daily during the main growing season. This species also requires careful fertilising, watering and disease control. Well worth the effort if you want the highest quality turf.

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9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

3. Perennial Ryegrass (Lolium perenne) Originally an agricultural grass used for hay and silage production, this grass has been bred over the past thirty years to produce very hard wearing but fine leaved cultivars ideal for family lawns. It can be used on its own to over

seed areas of high use, or mixed with fescues and bents to produce a high quality turf that recovers well from wear and tear. This grass requires higher levels of fertiliser and water, and also grows more quickly than other grass species....meaning more mowing.

4. Smooth Stalked Meadowgrass (Poa pratensis) This grass species has some very advantageous features, if grown in the right conditions and areas of the country. It is very hard wearing, even more than the Ryegrass, but takes a lot longer to establish from seed. Althoughanativespecies,thisgrass

requires longer days of high temperatures for successful management than found many parts oftheUK. Thisgrassspreadsbygrowing underground runners and can recover better from damage than Ryegrass and also has a deeper blue/green colour. This grass grows best in sandy soils in the south of the country and can produce the hardest wearing and attractive lawns.

So, having now chosen the use of your lawn and matched the grass species we can look at how to maintain your grass.......

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9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

Golden Rule:

3.

Mow at the correct height of cut and frequency

Mowing has the most visual effect on your lawn and the height of cut and how often to mow is dictated by a number of considerations;

Intended use – lawns used for recreation need to withstand wear and tear from people running around, balls, sliding and jumping. If cut too short your turf will very quickly develop bare patches that will fill with weeds and moss, or just stay bare if the lawn is used continually. Conversely, a high quality lawn will soon look ragged if only cut once a week.

Grass species – grasses used for high quality lawns, such as bentgrass and fescue species, are bred to withstand the low cutting heights necessary (3 – 6mm) for that luxury, velvet quality of bowling greens. Grasses developed for use on areas that are to withstand heavy use, such as Perennial Ryegrass and Smooth Stalked Meadowgrass, cannot survive these low cutting heights and may require mowing at 25mm – 50mm.

Equipment used – rotary mowers can give a very good cut, but only down to 20mm (3/4 inch) on very flat and even lawns, and if the blades are kept razor sharp. Rotary Mowers are excellent tools if used for cutting grass on areas used for heavy use and require mowing at

25mm – 50mm, or for good quality lawns with a goodproportionofPerennialRyegrass. Thebest quality of cut is given by cylinder mowers but these can only be used effectively if the blades are sharp and mowing no higher than 25mm.

Height of Cut - for good grass plant health you should not cut off more than one third of the height of the grass. Many people mow a 75 mm (3 inch) high grass down to 13mm (1/2 inch) and wonder why it turns yellow. The lower the height of cut the more frequent it should be cut. Golf and bowling greens are cut daily at 5mm, whilst grass mown at 25mm canbecuteverythreedays,dependingontherateofgrassgrowth. Warmandwetweather will cause the grass to grow quicker than in dry and hot or cold conditions. The important thing is to cut at a height the grass can grow healthily and to keep to the no-more-than-a- third rule.

Rotary mower suitable for most lawns

Cylinder mower used on high quality lawns

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To summarise:

A high quality lawn for the bowling green effect – High quality lawn with ryegrass - Good quality family lawn Reasonable lawn

5-7mm every two days 10-15mm two or three times per week 15-20mm once or twice per week 25-25mm once per week

9 Golden Rules Of The Perfect Lawn

Plant Growth Regulators can be used to slow down grass growth yet allow good root development. Theseproductsrequireexpertiseinknowingwhenandhowtoapplyand should not be used without specialist advice.

These heights of cut and frequency depend on growth rates due to time of the year and the amount of fertiliser applied. Speaking of which......

Lawns NI specialise in the application of sugars and seaweed mixtures to Guarantee a safe and healthy grass for family use. Let’s examine how we do this..........

4.

Apply the correct quantity of nutrients

Grass plants manufacture their food in the leaf by a process called photosynthesis. If the clippings are taken off, necessary for high quality lawns, nutrients are taken away before the grass plant can use them and will need to be replaced by applications of fertiliser. Also, grass on heavily used areas will need extra nutrients to help the plant renew leaves and tissue for recovery and healthy growth.

Grassplantsrequireabalancedrangeofnutrientsforhealthgrowth. Themainnutrients required are;

• Nitrogen for the growth of all plant tissue • Phosphorous for good root growth • Potassium for internal plant water

regulation and environmental stress

resistance • Iron or magnesium for helping the plant

to manufacture chlorophyll and control

the spread of disease • Calcium for strengthening plant cell walls • Carbohydrates to stimulate soil microbes

and supply energy to grass plants.

Other nutrients, called trace elements, are used in very small quantities and are often in plentiful supply in a healthy soil or can be applied using seaweed based fertilisers.

BEWARE of lawncare companies who offer a once or twice per year application of slow release fertilisers!!

Slow release fertilisers are not suitable for all lawns and can even lead to a build up of excessive organic matter called thatch. Apply nitrogen using products that can be adapted for the vagaries in growth during the season, i.e. small or larger amount according to grass growth.

We at Lawns NI have our own Trade Marked carbohydrate product called GrassNutraTM which supply the correct amounts of nutrients during the growing season. Theyalso provide energy to your turf during times of stress such as cold or hot weather and have proven to be particularly effective in helping the grass to grow in difficult conditions such as shade. GrassNutra replaces carbohydrates that the grass finds difficult to produce through photosynthesis in shade, heat and cold. Result? A healthier grass than using expensive fertilisers.

The other nutrient requirements can be assessed through carrying out a soil test which will determine the amounts required. Much fertiliser is wasted by applying more than enough for healthy growth. Make your turfcare company justify the quantities it is applying, other

February -

March -

April - May/June -

July/August -

September/ - October

November/ - December

January/- March

Start building up carbohydrate levels and soil microbial activity with GrassNutra Booster. GrassNutra Hardener is a Calcium based spray formulated to harden up the grass leaf cells walls against fungal disease at this time of the year.

GrassNutra Spring granules for gentle growth stimulant that takes advantage of the soil microbial activity and grass energy levels from GrassNutra Booster GrassNutra Mossex can be applied if moss is a problem Gently scarify to remove surface organic matter

Spike the soil to provide air for healthy soil microbes and so that grass roots can breathe.

Another GrassNutra Spring at the beginning of the month may be required if heavy rain has fallen, and as temperatures start to rise.

GrassNutra Summer granules for the correct supply of non-synthetic nutrients GrassNutra Booster to keep soil microbes in good health If weeds need controlling an application of a carbon based, selective weed killer can be used.

A repeat of the May/June treatment will keep your lawn in excellent health

GrassNutra Autumn liquid for continuing grass health and root building GrassNutra Booster to keep the soil microbes healthy and to provide a supply of energy to the grass as light levels fall GrassNutra Hardener is a Calcium based spray formulated to harden up the grass leaf cells walls against fungal disease