In the Garden

Not only have I been busy on the allotment, I have also been taking time out over the bank holidays and weekends in the garden. I have been training Mrs McGregor’s roses, redecorating her craft den, maintaining the containers and borders and getting out my garden furniture. However, after all that hard work I noticed the lawn is looking a little worse for wear; I should have paid more attention to it while I was tending to the borders.

It’s time for some damage control to get my lawn looking healthy; I believe there is nothing better than a luscious green lawn, but with winter just gone and the sun being quite hot, my lawn is looking far from a thing of beauty. We haven’t been getting a lot of rain over the past couple of months either, leaving my garden looking quite bare. Lawns tend to usually bounce back after a good shower, so a good watering with the hose is in order.

Mowing and trimming the lawn is becoming a regular activity for me in the garden as grass naturally grows more vigorously when the weather is warm. After mowing I have always found it best to rake up the thatch from cast away clippings and put them into the compost bin; having those nutrients will really help create a healthy compost you can put back into the garden (but if you have treated the lawn, don’t put the clippings with the other compost material).

However, I will also have to feed to lawn with a summer feed to promote a lush green colour and scatter grass seeds for an even ground cover. When I asked Mrs McGregor to fetch some feed from the garage she gave me what we had left over in the autumn feed, good thing I checked the label before distributing it across the lawn! There is a great deal of a difference between the two; an autumn feed contains nitrogen that will encourage vegetative growth over the cold months, whereas a summer feed will help the grass regain its lush green colour.

I have also found that the key to a great looking lawn is all in the aeration; to do this pierce the lawn with a garden fork or aerator, this will encourage invigorating and energetic gardening activity, which alleviates compaction.  

Mr McGregor