The cold weather through spring has meant that I am later than usual in sorting out my lawn. I have been cutting it on a high blade setting while the weather has been cold at night but now that it is growing away, I need to reduce the height of the blades and give the grass a boost before the summer wear and tear begins!
A granular weed and feed treatment is my choice for this job and I purchased a box from my local Notcutt’s garden center and kept it in the garage where it has stayed dry. Now that we have had some rain and with more in the forecast, I have applied it.
Firstly, I raked out the moss from the grass and put it on the compost heap. Doing this means that the granules will get to the surface of the soil and be washed into the ground properly. There is also a moss killer in the preparation which will hopefully finish off any that I have missed with the rake!
I like to use a lawn spreader to distribute the granules – it’s a much easier way to get an even application and prevents overdosing areas, leading to them being scorched. The spreader is not a piece of kit that I use often so I have opted for a relatively cheap one from my local Notcutt’s garden center - perfectly adequate for the job. My neighbours often borrow it as well!
Once the treatment had been spread on the grass, I did my rain dance and more rain fell overnight meaning that I didn’t have to water the lawn the next day, saving a big job!
After a few days, the lawn will look black as the treatment begins to work. This is a temporary stage in the transformation to a beautiful lawn but can be quite a shock if you have not used a weed and feed treatment before or if your lawn is mainly moss! The moss will go black and die, whereas the grass will begin to grow away and turn from black to deep green once the fertilizer kicks in.
The weeds in the lawn will begin to go yellow and grow faster than the grass before shrivelling up and dying completely. The weed killer in the preparation is effective on broad leaved plants only, so the grass will be unscathed unless it is scorched by the fertilizer due to dry conditions. I am always careful when spreading the granules near to the flowerbeds so that none of the leaves are hit and the first four cuts of grass after the treatment are not added to the compost heap. There is a slim chance that residue from the weed killer can stay in the compost even when it has rotted and affect some plants when it is spread on the ground as mulch – better safe than sorry!
With the warmer temperatures at night and the recent rain, I am looking forward to seeing the lawn change color to a healthy deep green so that it will provide the perfect backdrop for the rest of the garden through the summer months and beyond!
