Lawn care: What to do in January

We are a Finedon-based business called Premiership Lawncare Ltd, we specialise in domestic lawns and sports turf.

We are a family-run business with myself, Mark Pettit, having a background within the professional sector having worked at Arsenal FC for numerous years with a few awards along the way.

I have also worked at Oakham school as head groundsman.

My brother-in-law Josef worked alongside me at Oakham School for four years and also won his fair share of awards.

He was also nationally recognised as one the best young groundsman in the country.

Our aim for this blog is to give some guidance on how to achieve some great results on your lawn and if we can help along the way then of course we would love to help!

January

As you will all know during the winter grass tends to not do a lot unless your fortunate enough to have grow lamps in your back garden!

Grass will lay dormant below 6C which means nutrient uptake slows and the plant shuts down during cold snaps.

This doesn’t mean, however, that the lawn stops needing some good TLC. the key to a good lawn is to carry out good cultural practices throughout the year.

A few things that can be done this month:

If we have a nice few dry days then why not give the lawn a mow. Topping off with a rotary will do no harm.

If your lawn is long then only take small amounts off and gradually bring the height down over a few weeks.

Lawn aeration is the most important part of lawn maintenance. If your lawn is on the small side then grab a garden fork and get some holes in your lawn, otherwise get yourself a cheap lawn aerator and try it yourself.

We have specialist lawn aerators which can help get some holes in your lawn, by doing this it is getting valuable oxygen into the soil and decompacting the lawn which allows roots to flourish and keep the lawn looking healthy.

Apply some low-nitrogen fertiliser such as a 4-4-8 plus iron. The iron will help to supress any moss that may be in the lawn and the low nitrogen feed will give just give enough nitrogen for this time of year.

The potassium in the feed will help harden the grass against diseases.

If you have some weeds in the lawn why not grab a simple tool such as a screwdriver and pull them out? Ensure you get the whole root out and it certainly won’t be coming back.

If you have a lot of time on your hands and you are really serious about your lawn a really good thing to do is to remove heavy dews off the lawn daily or whenever needed.

A simple garden hose dragged along the lawn or a brush will do the job and will make a massive difference to the health of the plant.

Damp, warm days are a breeding ground for disease on your lawn and by removing the dew this will allow the grass to dry and will help in reducing outbreaks of disease.

We really encourage people to get stuck in with their lawn, but if you feel you would like some professional help then take a look what we can offer at www.premiershiplawncare.co.uk or call us on 01933 680069.

Feel free to email us some questions and we will be happy to answer them for you.