Having a well-grown lawn is certainly another good thing in life. But what if the lawn suffers some problem? Well, like every problem has a solution, a suffering lawn can also be repaired with the right efforts. Here, we will look into the details of how we can repair lawns. Let’s get started with what signs are of a healthy lawn.
What are the signs of a healthy lawn?
- A lush, deep green colour characterises healthy lawns.
- The lawn should have the proper height and thickness.
- The dreaded brown spots and lifeless patches shouldn’t exist.
- Regularly watered lawns.
- They can’t have a lot of weeds or grass mushrooms. The abundance of fungi suggests humid and rainy circumstances.
If your lawn does not have these qualities, then sorry to say, but your lawn is damaged. So, what can be the possible reasons for the damage, then? Let’s look into those reasons.
4 Types of Lawn Damage
Winter Salt Damage
Using salt during winter, especially on the driveway, sidewalks, and other surfaces prevents slipping. Although salt is strong enough to cut through ice and snow, it may also dry up the roots of your lawn. This drying-up phenomenon can leave dead patches and swaths of brown grass behind. If it is not checked and treated on time, it might kill the grass and makes your lawn look bad.
Insects, Rodents, and Birds
Healthy grass can be harmed by insects, larvae, rats, and birds. Insects can destroy grass roots, infest the soil beneath the grass, damage the grass, and cause the browning of your green lawn. Moles are among the animals that can dig and eat grubs. Some bird species can eat grass leaves and prevent new grass from germinating.
Pet Damage
Your dog or a stray dog, or your neighbour’s dog may be to blame for the yellow spots on your lawn. Your dog’s waste can be advantageous to the grass, but its urine, which is high in nitrogen content, can harm the soil and turn the grass yellow.
Weeds and Thatch
Grass and weeds stay competitive for survival. Weeds must be taken out for your lawn to flourish the growth of the lawn grass. Thus, you must use a good-quality commercial weed killer to stop the growth of weeds.
Read Also: What is Lawn mowing: A Complete Guide
How to repair lawns?
If any of the reasons above or other reasons cause your lawn to be unhealthy, then you must take action immediately. To repair such damaged or unhealthy lawns, you must look at the following step-by-step approach.
- Check your lawn and note down what should be improved
The first thing to do is see if your lawn looks awful and where exactly it looks absolutely disgraceful. After that, you need to note down the exact problem. Whether it is that uneven surface with humps and hollows or thin grasses, pale patches, mossy, ragged and untidy, it can be one of them or some of them or all of them.
- Start decluttering the lawn
Now, opt for a good old decluttering technique. You must take out the trash, furniture, toys, dog waste, twigs, dead leaves, etc., from the lawn area. You can use herbicides to treat broadleaved weeds. Also you can also add some chemicals to weaken any moss you might have missed and prevent the moss spores from sprouting.
- Relieve soil compaction
Compaction of the soil can result in ugly lawns. To allow for greater air and water flow around the roots of the plants, compaction must be relieved. Aeration is done to loosen the compaction. Aeration is a method that facilitates the lawn’s absorption of nutrients and water and its ability to resist diseases, pests, and frost. You can make hollow aeration to improve soil structure.
- Create a level surface
After aeration, it’s time to address any lumps and bumps on the surface of your lawn. Lumpy lawns always resemble a patchwork quilt in a small way. So, get over this issue, you can cut an “H” shape in the grass with a knife and eliminate any huge lumps.
- Overseed if necessary
At this point, your lawn needs overseeding. Based on your garden’s conditions and how you plan to use your lawn, you can make a wise choice of seed variety.
- Feed the lawn and the soil
Lawn grass needs some high-quality nutrients. The meal you give your lawn immediately brings a positive impact and helps to get your lawn to grow greener, plumper, and happier. You must apply fertiliser frequently and at the appropriate time of year. But you must avoid applying too many nutrients to your lawn in one setting.
- Boost growth with a lawn tonic
To ensure better growth of your lawn, opt for a lawn tonic. Lawn tonic helps you can grow while making preventing the leaves from being sick and exhausted. So, you can research well and opt for organic or chemical-based lawn tonic.
- Establish a regular mowing routine
The growth season requires you to mow frequently, at least once or twice every week. Regular mowing promotes the good development of your lawn. Make sure to have a sharp mowing blade so that you can achieve the ideal lawn grass length of 5-8 cm. You can progressively lower the cutting height if your lawn is well-established and appears strong and healthy. For better results, you need to invest in the best electric lawn mower.
- Stay patient
Patience is the key to achieving your goal of happy, healthy lawns. Your lawn will react to the weather, nutrients in the soil, wear and tear and more, so don’t panic but take the necessary preventive measures.
- Mark your calendar with a reminder to carry out feeding and renovating on a regular basis.
Now you need to have a monthly or quarterly calendar, both offline or online, to set a reminder for your mowing and lawn renovating activity.
Wrapping Up
We hope that with this blog, you got an idea about how to identify an unhealthy or damaged lawn and how to repair lawns. As we know, prevention is better than cure, make sure to invest in good mowing machines, tools, and other essentials to make your lawns get happier and healthier.