3 Lawn Care Tips to Encourage a Beautiful Green Lawn this Spring

If your dream is to have an awesome, lush, green lawn at your place, then take heart because achieving grass perfection is actually easier than you think. At Centenary Hire, we stock a range of professional quality equipment that makes lawn care easier to get your lawn looking its best not only in spring but throughout the warmer months.

In fact, there’s just 3 steps to achieving that inviting green lawn at your place.

TIP 1: Aeration is Key!
Believe it or not, Oxygen is a necessary component to any great lawn. While the leaves absorb carbon dioxide and emit oxygen, the roots need oxygen from the soil or otherwise it will become sick and die. When the dirt that the grass grows in becomes too compact either through overuse from walking, playing, driving or when the thatches of grass get too thick, it in effect strangles your grass giving it poor aeration.

So how do you know if your lawn needs to be aerated?
You should consider aeration for lawn care when:

It gets heavy use, e.g. as a playground or racetrack! Children and pets outdoor exertions contribute to soil compaction.
If it was established as part of a newly constructed home.
It dries out easily and has a spongy feel – this might mean that your lawn has an excessive thatch problem.
If it was established with turf and soil layering exists. Soil layering means that soil of finer texture which comes with the turf from the turf farm is different from your local soil – this creates drainage issues, compacted conditions and poor root development. Aerating breaks down the layers and allows the water to flow through the soil more easily.
It’s Spring Time and you’re getting your lawn ready for summer!

So now that we’ve determined if you need to aerate, how do you actually aerate your lawn?

You could manually pierce your lawn with a garden fork putting holes and wiggling the fork to create an air pocket every 10-15 centimetres – but unless you’re really patient, this could become tedious! Or you could pop down to Centenary Hire, and hire our Lawn Aerator. Also known as a Lawn Corer, this motorised unit has an axle of hollow tines which embed into the lawn and pulls out cores of soil, thus creating air pockets within your soil and top dressing the grass at the same time.

Make sure the soil is moist – after rain or the day after you watering is ideal.
For best results, make multiple passes over the most compacted areas to really break up the compacted soil.
Allow the excavated soil plugs to dry then run over them with the lawn mower – it’s like a mini top dressing.

TIP 2: Top Dressing for better nutrient dispersion and an even Lawn
The main reason to top dress a lawn is to level the lawn or to build it up to the right level. Top dressing fills holes and low spots and encourages the grass to spread.

Another method we employ is soil spreading which is done with a special spreading tool. Not only does this tool allow us to better redistribute soil in a more uniform manner but it allows the associated minerals and nutrients to also be better redistributed. A healthy lawn is one that is has been access to water and air, as well as nutrients.

Fertilise and mow the lawn before top dressing.
Calculate how much top dressing mix/top soil or river sand to purchase by allowing 10mm of soil on top of the lawn
Don’t top dress if it’s about to rain. – Wet soil will not disperse, it will create a hard crust above your grass that may kill it.
Evenly spread the soil across your entire area and work it into the ground using a soil spreader
Don’t bury the turf – the trick is top dress a few times lightly. The leaves must poke through after you apply the top dressing mix. Let it grow for a week and then do it again.
Fertilise after top dressing.

TIP 3: Lawn Mowing Gives Your Lawn a Manicured Look
Lastly, we also recommend regular mowing. Mowing via push mowers or ride on mowers (depending on the size of the property of course) allows for your lawn to keep weeds at bay.

A lawn that is too long becomes too untidy and allows for other alien plants to take root. A lawn that is too short gets burnt in strong sun. Keeping your lawn the appropriate length along with good watering and nutrients will help it looking green and immaculate throughout the warm months.

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Centenary Hire is a Tradesmen & Weekend Warrior’s best friend. Our ever increasing range of hire equipment consists of modern tools, machinery, scaffold, access equipment and site services all of which are aimed at helping you get the job done right – the first time. Our friendly staff can help you to choose the right equipment for your project or you can view & book your equipment online now at www.CentenaryHire.com.au. Drop into our store at Sumner Park or request an equipment delivery as our efficient transport service extends well beyond the limits of Brisbane on a daily basis.