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How to, When to and What to do to Your Lawn.

 

Home Lawn Care: Keep It Simple or even have a Herbal Lawn....

Home lawn care is as simple or complex as you make it. Before deciding to put in varied colours and varieties of exotic plant life it’s a good idea to consider just how much weekend time you have to spend on the maintenance of these exotic plants, or in lieu of your own loving care, if you can afford to have a professional landscape team come around to take regular care of your plants. 

 We suggest that you apply a lawn weed and feed in the first instance. We have had good results from a product by Vitax called 'Green-Up, Lawn Liquid Weed & Feed', which can be applied from a watering can with a fine rose, or by a sprayer. This will knock out most of your weeds and build up the grass roots at the same time, so the grass can dominate while the weeds are knocked down .

 A second application may be needed after several weeks, but for the really stubborn weeds that persist try the' Lawn Clear ' product from Vitax. Its an advanced formula that will clear most major lawn weeds. Do be patient with both products though,as they typically take at least two weeks before showing signs, and then up to six weeks for complete results.

Aerating and top dressing would best be done in early autumn, though you could prick the ground (just a half to one and a half inches deep) now if you want to.

Exotic plants are any type of foliage that is not native to the area and as such will require additional care and supplementary items such as special food, water or lighting conditions for it to thrive. So, one way to avoid making lawn care in your home a time consuming task is to plant only native plants that are accustomed to fending for themselves, as it were.

Some people, myself included, tend to find even the most basic laCornish Lawn in Springwn care a little tedious. Yep, even just lugging out the old lawn mower for a quick clipping can seem very tedious. But then again, I live where the grass grows so quickly that if I miss a weekly trimming in the summertime things start to look quite jungly.

For those of us looking for a way to cut down on even basic lawn care, there’s always the herbal lawn. True, you may find it more work to get started if you already have a lawn in place,  but if you don’t have a lawn yet or have a more fragile variety growing you may find it worthwhile and even pleasurable to incorporate an herbal lawn.

A herbal lawn is just what it sounds like, a lawn that consists of a herb rather than a type of grass. You can make a herbal lawn out of many different types of herbs. The challenge really is finding an herb that tolerates heavy foot traffic at the same time that it is not too prickly or woody if you like to sit or play on the lawn. There are various varieties of chamomile and creeping thyme that fall into this perfect middles ground.

Herbal lawns grow more slowly than traditional grasses and smell simply wonderful when they are tread or sat upon. In fact, herbal lawns can be so heavenly on a warm summer day that many people erect what’s known as a ‘gardener’s couch’. A gardener’s couch is created by shaping raw earth into a comfortable shape or shapes which are then sowed herb seeds. For an even greater olfactory thrill, plant a variety of herbs. Every change in body position will release a different herbal aroma.

    The best plan for creating a non-grass lawn is that ideally it should be bounded by walls, paths etc,. as edging is not very practical. The ground should be fallowed, i.e. dug over and raked at regular intervals throughout the summer,and the resulting weeds that pop up need to be hoed or weedkilled; or an overall treatment with a systemic weedkiller like glyphosphate, so that there's no weeds that can come up through.
 Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) needs a free draining acidic soil which does not get waterlogged in winter and is not known to be chalky. Sow the seed in March and plant out in May with the seedlings about 6 inches apart,occasional clipping or mowing set on high to prevent flowering,  or you can buy plants of the non-flowering variety "Treneague" using the same planting distance, mowing and clipping won't be needed.
 Water in during dry spells and hand weed as necessary.. Wet winters and hot summers will take a toll on a chamomile lawn making it patchy, so reseeding will be needed in subsequent years.
Thyme also makes a suitable lawn cover and can be used in  more alkaline and neutral soils, and its more resistant to dry spells. Use Creeping Thyme (Thymus serpyllum).