Every person who cares for a lawn will know that it is a labour of love that sometimes presents the odd problem, leaving you stumped on how to solve it!
But luckily for you, we know all the common lawn problems that most lawn owners will face, and better yet – we know exactly how to solve them!
Dogs
Here at
icanlawn.com HQ, we absolutely love our pooches but we also know that they can
do real damage to our lawns. Whether it be their radioactive wee that causes burnt patches or just their general rugby diving
up and down our lawns! Of course, it’s not their fault, but it may leave you
more than less impressed with the condition of your grass. Contrary
to popular belief, female dog wee is not any worse than males. It is in fact the female’s squatting
style that causes more damage than the males spraying method! Despite this, any
dog urine on your lawn will have an adverse effect. Your best way of preventing
this is to water any spots that may have been urinated on. Instead of burning
your lawn, the nitrogen that is active in their urine will feed it and turn
your grass very green when diluted with water. If you have left it too late and
are sporting the green and yellow polkadot lawn look, you can remove the damaged grass and reseed with a super hardy mix.
Likewise, a lawn that is full of hardwearing and fastgrowing grass seeds is
better equipped to put up with all the ‘ruff’ and tumble that comes with the pleasure
of owning a pet. Our Tough Stuff Lush Lawn is our toughest mix, that also
produces an incredibly luscious lawn. If you want to learn how
to sow a new lawn,
or overseed an existing one – make sure to visit our How
to Hub.
Shade
Many lawns
experience shade whether it is a light shade that moves across the lawn
throughout the day, or a heavier shade that seems to never leave! Whilst shade
can be irritating enough when it comes to your sunbathing, it can be
particularly frustrating when your grass simply refuses to grow there. To solve
this issue, you could remove the objects that may be causing the shade – but if
you’re rather fond of your fence, trees, hedges or shrubs – then you may just
want to try our next best solution – overseeding! Believe it or not, but only
certain types of grass seed can grow in shadey conditions. Our Shade
Supreme Lawn mix is
made up of all those seeds that not only love the sun but can also tolerate any
shade your lawn will throw at it. If you need to work out how much you seed you
need for your lawn, make sure to use our handy Product
Calculator.
Clay
soils
Clay soils are
notorious for turning many a lovely lawn into an unruly mud pit! Although clay
soils can appear just about anywhere, they are typically prominent in new build
homes where top soil hasn’t been added to improve the lawns overall
composition. This, combined with poor drainage or no drainage, really does turn
the lawn of your dreams into quite the nightmare. Just like there are seeds
that can grow in shade, there are ones that are great at growing in the
difficult conditions that clay soils present! During winter and thanks to our
UK weather, clay soils become boggy, muddy and wet – and during summer they
become incredibly hard, cracked and dry. This means you need some pretty hardy
seeds that can put up with these two extremes! Look no further than our New
Build Dream Lawn that
has all the seeds you need to turn that muddy nightmare into a total dream!
Yellowing
Yellowing in your lawn can be a sign of a few different factors. The most obvious sign is that your lawn simply needs a feed! Just like other plants and flowers in your garden, your lawn needs fed too – and when it’s hungry, it’ll let you know by looking a little pale and yellow. The good news is now is a great time to feed your lawn! To keep your lawn fed for longer and throughout the summer make sure to use our All Summer Long feed that will steadily green up your lawn over 16 weeks. If you need a quicker fix, our Oh So Green will have your lawn looking Insta-worthy in only 6 weeks! You can learn how to feed your lawn here. Yellowing can also be a sign of overfeeding / fertiliser burn, so make sure to always use the recommended spreading rate for your lawn food of choice. Bad mowing can also make some of your grass blades turn yellow. It is important to mow at the correct height for your lawn (20-40mm for a lawn that gets a lot of use, 10-20mm for a fine ornamental lawn), and to ensure that your mower blades are always sharp. You can find more information on our best mowing tips here. Our regular rain does an excellent job of keeping our lawns watered for most of the year, but it is possible to over water your lawn! Have you ever watered a house plant too much and noticed the leaves begin to turn yellow? Well, the same thing will happen to your grass. Likewise, if your garden floods easily and your grass is submerged in water for a long period of time it will begin to suffocate. The easiest way to avoid these becoming issues in your lawn is to know how to water your lawn correctly and to assess the level of your lawn. If there are dips in your lawn this is where water will gather, so you may want to level these areas out with top soil. Avoid using compost as this will break down over time. Lastly, the most unfortunate diagnosis for yellow grass can be down to pests. Leatherjackets and chafer grubs can live beneath your soil and eat at the roots of your grass, causing it to die and turn yellow. Whilst a good lawn care regime can help a little towards keeping these monstrous mites at bay, your best bet to get rid of them is to use the appropriate nematode.
Thinning
/ Patches
Thinning and
patchiness is a normal occurrence in any well-loved and well-used lawn but
is thankfully easily cured! Overseeding your lawn seasonally (once in autumn,
once in spring) can help this become less of an issue and ensure that your lawn
looks great all year round. The process of overseeding also encourages us to remove any weeds or moss
that have been building up. Feeding your lawn regularly can also help to
thicken up any thinning grass, a long lasting feed in summer and winter will cover your lawn for
the entire year, and if you need any boosts inbetween our 6 week feeds
are the ultimate quick fix solution. For our full guide on how to overseed your
lawn, click here. For our
guide on how to repair patches – click here.
And don’t forget to always overseed with a grass seed mix that
is fit for purpose!
As you can
see, most lawn care issues can be easily solved with a bit of know-how, some DIY
and by establishing a
regular lawn care routine!