A lush green lawn is always the result of careful care. A wide range of measures work harmoniously together to optimally care for the noble greenery. The 10 best tips here show you how to properly care for a lawn.
How do I care for my lawn with the 10 best tips?
The 10 best tips for lawn care are: 1. Regular and professional mowing, 2. Scarifying to remove moss and weeds, 3. Aerating to aerate the lawn, 4. Use of suitable lawn care equipment, 5. Sanding to improve drainage, 6. Liming to regulate the pH value, 7. Balanced fertilization with organic preparations, 8. Correct watering, 9. Combining mulching and mowing and 10. Skillful reseeding to repair patchy areas Lawn.
Tip 1: Mowing the lawn properly needs to be learned - here's how it works
Mowing is one of the mainstays of professional lawn care. A beautiful lawn is based on 2 central factors: regularity and cutting height. If you coordinate these two aspects, a green lawn will develop as if by itself. That's what matters:
- Mowing the lawn for the first time in spring from a height of 8 centimeters
- Mow the lawn every 7-10 days during the growing season
- Do not mow the greenery when it is wet or under the blazing midday sun
- In normal weather conditions, do not fall below a cutting height of 3-4 centimeters
- Do not mow after the first frost
A green lawn needs a minimum height of 5 centimeters in order to provide sufficient shade for the root area when it is dry. In midsummer, the greenery should grow a little higher.
Tip
>The robotic lawnmower doesn't just magically mow the lawn regularly. The battery-operated device scores with a pleasant side effect. It is far too uncomfortable and restless for moles and voles, where the humming noise runs all over the lawn. The unsightly hills and holes in the lawn will soon be a thing of the past.
Tip 2: Simply comb out what doesn't belong there
At the end of winter, a thick carpet of moss and lots of weeds prevent a beautiful lawn from developing. In order to properly care for the greenery, the rather radical technique of scarifying is used. Special devices use knives to score the grass area to a depth of 3-10 millimeters in order to comb out thatch and weeds. Here's how to do it:
- Dethatch the lawn immediately after mowing for the first time
- Treat the weedy area lengthwise and crosswise
- Carefully sweep and dispose of all moss and weeds
If a green lawn has turned into a mossy tundra at the end of summer, experienced hobby gardeners bring out the scarifier again. In August/September they work on the stressed green again as part of the autumn care program.
Tip 3: How to aerate the lawn like a pro
On an intensively used lawn, the sod becomes increasingly compacted over time. In order to care for the greenery in the best possible way, scarifying alone is not enough in this case. Now is the time for aerators. These devices punch hollow nails up to 10 centimeters deep into the ground to give the harassed grass roots more air. How to do it right:
- Mow the lawn briefly and scarify thoroughly
- Then work on the turf with a manual or mechanical aerator (€35.00 on Amazon)
- Drill holes in the compacted soil at a distance of 15-20 centimeters to ventilate it
The soil cones that have been pushed out must not be trampled down again, but instead go into the compost.
Tip 4: Important devices for manual and mechanical lawn care
To turn a grassy area into a beautiful lawn, you cannot do without suitable equipment. While simple manual tools make work easier for small green areas, hobby gardeners prefer to work on lawns larger than 500 square meters with mechanical support. The following list provides an overview of which devices can properly care for your lawn.
| Law care equipment | Mechanical devices | Manual devices |
|---|---|---|
| Mowing the lawn | Petrol, electric mowers, robotic lawnmowers | Reel mower |
| combing out moss | Scarifier | Verticutting rake |
| Removing weeds | Scarifier | Weeder, hands |
| Aerating the lawn | Aerator | Lawn woodpecker, nail sandals, digging fork |
| Fertilize | Gritters | Hand spreader |
| Kalken | Kalkwagen | gloved hands |
| Water | Automatic lawn sprinkler | Watering can, water hose |
Tip 5: This is how sand makes the lawn green
If you want to properly care for a scarified and ventilated green area so that it develops into a lush green lawn, add further care measures. To protect the turf from compaction in the long term, create effective drainage with fine quartz sand. How to care for your lawn in an exemplary manner:
- Sand the combed and aerated lawn
- Washed quartz sand with a fine grain size of 0/2 is suitable
- Do not sprinkle more than half a bucket of sand per square meter
- Finally, water the lawn thoroughly
Use a broom to work the sanded surface until all holes are filled and small unevenness is leveled out. You can care for the green like an English lawn professional if you apply a top dressing made of quartz sand, peat and fertilizer instead of plain sand. After this premium treatment, a green lawn thrives even more magnificently.
Tip 6: Lime correctly – raise the pH carefully
A beautiful lawn does not thrive in acidic soil. Every 2 to 3 years, experienced hobby gardeners order a soil analysis or test the pH value in the lawn themselves. If the result falls below a value of 5.5, there is an immediate need for action. Targeted liming raises the value to the ideal level of 6-7. This is how it works:
- Lime the lawn in spring, followed by scarifying and aerating
- Spread the garden lime in the recommended dosage with the spreader
- Ideally use a mild algae lime, vital lime or rock powder
- If it doesn't rain, water the limed lawn thoroughly
If the pH value is within an acceptable range, we recommend maintenance liming every 2 to 3 years. In this way, you can care for the lawn prophylactically before moss and weeds can spread in the acidic soil. If you lime the green area in a small dosage of 125 to 160 grams per square meter, the result is a moss-free, green lawn.
Tip 7: Just don't starve - it's better to fertilize organically in a balanced way
As often as machines work on the lawn, nutrient-rich biomass is always lost. This is especially true when it comes to mowing the lawn. If you want to properly care for your green carpet, you shouldn't do without repeated fertilization. A beautiful lawn develops in harmony with nature if you use organic orGive preference to organic-mineral preparations. How to fertilize with expertise:
- Fertilize lawns with normal use in March/April and September/October
- Additional care for heavily stressed lawns with fertilizer in June/July
- Administer a mineral-organic long-term fertilizer or fertilize with compost or plant manure
- Ideally fertilize after working on the lawn and then water thoroughly
While the lawn primarily requires nitrogen and phosphorus in spring and summer, the autumn supply of nutrients serves to prepare for frosty temperatures with potassium. In the mineral-organic sector, patent potash comes into consideration here. If you fertilize purely organically, comfrey manure provides everything you need to properly care for your lawn before winter.
Tip 8: Water dry lawns - it's not just the quantity that matters
If you maintain your lawn in a balanced manner using fertilizers, sand and lime, extensive watering will round off the care in a sensible way. In addition, a green lawn is a lost cause if you do not water it in a balanced manner when it is dry. The important thing here is to apply the right amount of water. A beautiful lawn doesn't want to die of thirst or be drowned. The following rules of thumb may serve as a guide:
- Water the lawn in summer drought
- Never water the greenery in direct sunlight
- Ideally water in the early morning or late evening
- Start watering at the first signs of wilting
The amount of water depends on the nature of the soil. On sandy-loose soil you water with 10-15 liters, on loamy-clay soil with 15-20 liters of water per square meter. You will care for the lawn competently if you water thoroughly 1-2 times a week instead of watering a small amount every day.
Tip 9: Mulching and mowing in one go
Modern hobby gardeners combine lawn mowing and fertilizing in a single operation. This can be done easily with a mulching mower. These devices chop the clippings into tiny particles in order to organically mulch the greenery. This saves time because there is no longer any need to empty the grass catcher basket. In addition, there is no need for additional fertilization, which is good for your wallet and nature.
Tip 10: Skillful reseeding irons out small defects - here's how it works
You can turn a sparse, patchy lawn into a dense, green carpet in no time by reseeding. As long as there is still a remaining amount of green lawn, professional reseeding eliminates the need for time-consuming new planting. This is how it works:
- Mow the lawn in spring or autumn and scarify it in places or over the entire area
- Compensate any unevenness with a mix of compost and sand
- Spread lawn seeds for reseeding by hand or with a spreader
Last but not least, sift a thin layer of sand over the light germinators, roll the re-seeded area smooth and water thoroughly.
Tip
Which grass mixture does the lawn whisperer from the tennis mecca Wimbledon actually prefer? In order to put an end to the eternal serve-and-volley bum-bum tennis, the grass mix was changed in 1995. Instead of the previously favored mixture of 70 percent ryegrass and 30 percent red fescue, today's tennis cracks only have ryegrass at their feet.