Professional garden care tips for the growing season

By Yvonne Ludeman


The real work in grass health care is done between spring and summer. The rest of the year is about trying to minimise the impact of adverse weather on lawns. There are several different techniques and routines that different gardeners go through. Each person finds their own ways of sorting their garden that suits them.

However it can be observed that although all gardeners do things slightly differently, the core tasks are the same. There are some tasks that are simply essential when it comes to spring and summer gardening. This article will highlight what core tasks need done so you can work out your own schedule.

First off you want to make sure that your ground is ready for growth. This means making sure the soil has the appropriate nutrients it needs for growth. Normally nutrients would be placed into the ground by falling debris in autumn. However as gardeners we usually clear away this which is essentially taking nutrients out of the normal cycle. Therefore we need to replace these lost nutrients.

In flower growth areas the process is easy, you just dig up the soil and mix in fresh fertiliser. This ensures that new fertiliser can add goodness to the old worn out earth. This process is not as easy for garden grass. This is due to the fact that you can't rotate the lawn and place new earth underneath, not without a lot of bother. In order to fertilise your garden grass an operation called top dressing is undertaken.

Top dressing is where you spread a thin layer of fertiliser over the surface of the lawn. This can be done either manually or automatically. Depending on the time you have and the size of your lawn you can make your choice. Manual spreading of topsoil is a lengthy task but it saves you the expense of buying or renting a top dresser or spreader.

If you are manually spreading the fertiliser this will be done with a container and a spade. This means that you can use one spade of soil and spread it over the turf equally in patches. The procedure can be hard to do correctly, this is due to trying to make sure the soil is spread evenly across your garden.

The use of a machine based top dresser is a lot simpler. It is a case of inserting the fertiliser into the hopper and pushing the unit over your lawn evenly. This will result in a positive and even spreading of earth which will ensure the lawn is properly covered.

Making sure that your garden is fertile and supportive towards growth in spring is essential. Plants and turf need the right environment to grow in from the start of the season. It is all about laying the right foundations down. If you only start to fertilise once plants are growing it will never reach its full growth potential.




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