Coming out of winter, you might find that your grass is starting to feel spongy. This is the first sign of thatch build up, and if you leave it untreated it can ruin your lawn. Here are ANCO Geelong’s top tips for dethatching your lawn.

A thin layer of thatch is actually beneficial. It works to insulate your grass from extreme temperatures, keeps moisture in the soil and acts as a protective layer. Thatch is naturally occurring. It’s a layer of dead grass that gathers above the soil and is broken down by microbes. Thatch only becomes a problem when the build up is too fast for the organic processes to handle and it forms a thick layer.

When you have a large build up of thatch it can seriously damage your lawn. It creates a barrier that stops air and moisture from reaching your grass. This can lead to a weaker lawn that’s less drought tolerant and more susceptible to pest and disease problems.

How to treat Lawn Thatch

Here are our recommended methods for dethatching your lawn.

1. Low cut mowing

Also known as scalping your grass, this method uses equipment you’ve got on hand; just set your mower to the lowest setting. This process will remove your layer of thatch quickly and effectively, but it may take multiple runs. It’s important to use a catcher mower for scalping and to make sure that all grass clippings are removed from your lawn. This will give your lawn a fresh start and allow even regrowth.

2. Scariffer

A lawn scariffer is a motorised walk-behind machine equipped with blades that slice vertically through your lawn to pull out thatch and thin out your lawn. After using the scariffer you will need to remove the thatch with a catcher mower. This is a simple, effective process for removing thatch and scariffers are readily available from most hire companies.

The time is now

If thatch build up is a problem for you, now is the time to get on top of it. For warm variety grasses, remove thatch from late October to early December. Before this time, your lawn is still recovering from winter and will be more vulnerable to weeds. Plus, make sure that your grass isn’t entering its first spring season as this means it’s still in the infancy stage of its lifespan. Young lawns are still developing strong root systems as they enter summer, so adding extra strain isn’t advisable.

After Dethatching

Once you’ve effectively dethatched your lawn, you’ll want to fertilise and water it for best results and regrowth. After dethatching is a great time to topdress your lawn. You’ll end up using less sand and getting better, more even results.

Dethatching is a common problem with many simple solutions. Plus, there are significant benefits to dethatching your lawn. Your grass will have young, fresh regrowth with a softer leaf and better colour and vigour. This means that the grass will recover faster from wear and be less prone to disease.

If you’re not sure which method of dethatching will work best for you, or you’re looking for more guidance, talk to the expert team at ANCO Geelong.

Check out the amazing installation job done here by our team at ANCO Geelong. For optimal results on this Sir Walter Buffalo Installation, we’ve used a top-dressing process with sand.

What is Top-Dressing?

Top-dressing is the process of spreading a thin layer of sand or topsoil mixture over your grass. This is done for one of two reason. The first is to add organic nutrients, and the second is to correct poor preparation and soil conditions.

The process itself is very simple, but when done wrong can bury your lawn. Essentially we spread a layer of sand, and then water it down into the grass. The layer must be thin enough that the lawn tips can be seen and when watered it disappears completely.

Top-dressing is best done in the growing season, from late spring to early summer, when you need to be mowing weekly. For best results, fertilise in the weeks leading up to your grass installation.

What are the benefits?

1. Add nutrients into your lawn

Top-dressing can be a good way to add nutrients to your grass. This will help to boost new growth to achieve a thicker, healthier lawn. It helps to improve drainage yet retain moisture where it counts, it increases nutrient retention and helps reduce thatch build up.

2. Correct poor preparation and uneven surfaces

Top-dressing is used to fill in low spots and uneven areas. This is best done on shallow indentations, never deeper than 4 or 5cm. It is an easy process that creates good results and can get your lawn looking lush and level.

A final word of caution

While this process creates great results, it should only be used in those two situations. There has been a misconception that top-dressing should be done every spring to encourage new growth and revitalise the lawn. This isn’t the case. Regular top-dressing can lead to a loss of lawn fertility and an increase in the top thatch layer, which is already a problem area for several lawn types.

Get your lawn looking great from the start, from your team here at ANCO Geelong.

Now that we’ve passed the shortest day of the year, we can begin to fantasise about the warmer weather. Spring is slowly approaching, and it’s the growing season for most Australian lawn types. That makes now the perfect time to start preparing your grass by doing some simple spring lawn maintenance.

Winter is just as hard on your grass as it is on you. The long, cold, sunless days are likely to leave your grass looking brown and sparse. But, it’s not as bad as it looks. Doing these short, simple steps can prepare your grass for spring and leave you with a lush lawn this summer.

Start Simple:

The first step to spring lawn maintenance is to take your rake around the garden and pick up any fallen leaves, twigs or branches that have collected over the winter. Vigorously rake at patches of dead, brown grass to remove it and provide the new growth with as much sunlight as possible.

Weeding:

Over the winter months, weeds are likely to begin to pop up throughout your lawn. But, unless you’re completely over-run, you should be able to deal with them by hand. Single weeds can be pulled and large flat weeds are often manageable. However, if you’re planning on manually removing your weeds it is essential you do this before they begin to seed. Alternatively, if your lawn has been struggling over winter and the weeds are unmanageable, select herbicides can be applied at this time of year. Find the perfect herbicide for your lawn with some help from the experts at ANCO Geelong.

Look after your Mower:

It’s very likely that your lawn mower has been sitting untouched over the cooler months. So, before you start it up, it’s a great time to do some yearly maintenance. Change over the fuel and oil, and invest in some new spark plugs to keep your machine running smoothly. Plus, before you start mowing, sharpen your blades to keep your lawn healthy and lush over the summer.

Aeration is the key to spring lawn maintenance:

Aerating your grass works wonders. It reduces soil compaction and thatch build up, while increasing the amount of air, water and nutrients getting through the soil. This in turn will lead to stronger roots and a healthier lawn. Aerating can be done with spiked rollers, which are available for hire at ANCO Geelong. Otherwise, coring machines can be used and are typically available from hire companies.

Fertilise and Sow:

Fertilising your lawn helps to speed up new growth and create strong roots in time for summer. Drought tolerant or warm season grasses should be fertilised in early spring and cool season grasses should be fertilised all year round. But first, a word of caution, don’t overdo it. Regular fertilising throughout the spring, summer and autumn with light doses is much more effective than one or two heavy doses a year.

Regular mowing and fertilising in spring and summer will help your grass repair and thicken in damaged areas. Think about your mowing height, as it’s different for different grass types. this means that you shouldn’t automatically mow your grass high to thicken and even out your lawn as this can be bad for certain grass varieties. If you’re wanted to know how to get your lawn looking its best have a talk to us at ANCO Geelong for top mowing tips.

Renovate your Lawn:

During your spring lawn maintenance is the perfect time for grass renovations, particularly for drought tolerant varieties. These grasses can be mown very short and top-dressed with a fine sand or otherwise, scarified then top-dressed. This takes out all the thatch from under the leaf and by doing this; your lawn will end up softer, greener and easier to mow. However, don’t be concerned if your lawn starts looking bad for a few weeks, it’ll recover better than ever. When completing this process, make sure you’re watering every couple of days for the following weeks to achieve best results.

Watering:

Spring is a tricky time of year for watering, as it’s easy to overdo it. With regular rainfall coming out of winter you shouldn’t need to do much extra. The soil hasn’t started heating up and the nights are still cool, so water lingers in the soil for longer than you’d expect. If you’re not sure if you need to water, dig your finger into the lawn – if it’s damp, don’t water.

This might seem like a long to-do list for lawn preparation, but they’re all simple steps that’ll make a huge impact.

The installation team from ANCO Geelong completed a brilliant job renovating this front lawn. For an insiders look into how we did it, keep on reading.

Starting with a fresh slate:

To begin, we had to poison the existing grass, as we needed a clear surface to work on. Poisoning the old grass prevents any of the previous lawn variety making a comeback. The poison was left for 10 days to do its job.

Next, we removed the existing dead lawn to get down to the soil. In order to get the ground into peak condition, we rotary hoed the soil, creating a loose top layer that is better suited to absorb moisture. Also, the loose soil greatly assists the speed of root establishment. We then raked over the surface to remove any roots or stones that may have surfaced through the rotary process and levelled out the soil.

Preparing the base:

The next step was to use a lawn roller to firm the soil. This recompacts the top layer of soil and provides the perfect base to lay our turf on. To optimise our base we applied a lawn starter kit to pack in the correct nutrients that the turf will need to grow.

Laying the turf:

Our team rolled out the turf, taking care not to overlap any pieces or leave any gaps. This is a key step needed to create any complete lawn. Then the team rolled the turf with the lawn roller to ensure that it all makes contact with the soil and the roots take.

Finally, to ensure the turf settled and maintain the fresh lawn, watering is key. We began watering immediately after installation, while recommending the turf was constantly kept moist for the first few weeks after installation.

This is the type of high-quality job you can expect from our team here at ANCO Geelong.

TURF INSTALLATION
Install your lawn immediately upon delivery. Begin watering the grass within 30 minutes of installation.

Turf is a living plant that requires ground contact and moisture to survive. In hot weather, protect unlaid turf by placing stacks in shade, or lightly sprinkling with water.

Begin installing turf along the longest straight line such as a driveway or path. Butt and push edges and ends against each other tightly, without stretching. Avoid gaps or over lapping. Stagger the joints in each row in a brick like fashion, using a large knife to trim corners, etc. Avoid leaving small strips at outer edges as they won’t retain moisture.

To eliminate causing indentations or air pockets avoid walking or kneeling on turf while it is being installed or just after watering. After installing the turf, rolling the entire area to improve turf/soil contact and remove air pockets is beneficial.

On slopes place turf across the slope. On steep slopes, use wooden pegs to anchor the turf.

We recommend Buffalo is top dressed with washed sand at a rate of 1/2㎥ per 100㎡. This helps to retain moisture and aids establishment.

Soil Preparation

For best results good soil preparation is the most important step in achieving a top quality lawn for years to come.

The first step is to remove any weeds. This can be done by spraying roundup, by removing the weeds mechanically or by hand. Dig or loosen soil to about 100mm deep. Rake, level and firm the soil.

Sowing

Spread the recommended amount of seed for the area being sown (Excessive amounts of seed won’t help the long term quality of the lawn) and the required amount of lawn starter fertiliser evenly over the area. Seed and fertiliser should be lightly raked in and rolled. Good seed to soil contact is important to achieve good germination.

Watering

It is very important that once you have started watering the sown area you need to keep the top layer moist. This may mean that, depending on the weather, watering 2-3 times per day (wind dries the soil out very quickly) for the first 2-4 weeks. After the initial 3-4 weeks less frequent but deeper watering are needed to encourage a healthy deep root system.

Mowing

Mowing should be done once the lawn gets to the desired length. Frequent mowing’s removing only a small amount of leaf will encourage your lawn to thicken up faster. No more than 1/3 of the leaf should be mown each time. (The faster your lawn is growing, the more often you need to mow).

Fertilising

Apply lawn starter at sowing, followed by 4-6 weekly applications of lawn food throughout the growing season. Ensure fertiliser is watered in well so as not to burn lawn and to activate fertiliser. Light regular applications are better than one or two heavy applications per year.

Weed Control

If broad leaf weeds are present in your newly sown lawn they can be retreated with a reduced rate of chemical 4-6 weeks after germination. Full rates of chemical can be applied by 10 weeks. Regular mowing should stop weeds from dominating the lawn.

Different lawn types require different selective herbicides. For further advice please call us or drop in to our shop at 156 LaTrobe Tce. We carry a full range of selective herbicides and fertilisers suitable for any lawn variety.

Installing instant turf is an easy process, but is one that needs to be done right.

1. Preparing your soil

Preparation is key. It’s first important to determine your soil type; sandy soil provides good drainage and is a low maintenance base. A clay soil however, requires more attention. You will need to dig down or rotary hoe the top 100mm to 150mm of soil. It can also be beneficial to then add a layer of sandy loam and gypsum to improve the drainage. Adding a wetting agent will help you to further retain moisture. In order to optimise your soil, a fertiliser will create a good base.

2. Creating your surface

Once your soil is properly prepared you will need to create a smooth base. Remove any rocks or roots from the top soil, then use a soil roller to lightly firm the surface. Your soil should be 20mm below any paths or garden beds to achieve best results. Then, most importantly, you will need to hose down the soil to create a moist surface for the turf.

3. Installing instant turf

The installation process is as simple as rolling out your instant turf. For best results you should begin with the longest straight strip you can roll out, then push the edges of your turf together for even coverage. It’s important that you don’t leave any gaps or overlap your pieces. From there on, build up your lawn like you would a brick wall, but be careful not to stretch your turf.

4. Creating contact

Your grass needs ground contact and moisture to survive. The best way to create these conditions is to roll over your new lawn with a grass roller to improve turf to soil contact and remove any remaining air pockets.

5: Watering

Watering must be done in the first half hour after installing instant turf. Then watering should be done twice daily for the first fortnight or until the grass appears to mesh together and start looking like a cohesive lawn. It’s crucial not to allow your grass to dry out.

You now have your lawn. Keep is looking healthy through regular mowing and fertilisation.