George Howson

If your lawn looks tired despite regular feeding and watering, the soil pH is the first thing to check, and the result will change every other decision you make for the rest of the year. Grass cannot absorb most fertiliser…

If your lawn is barely growing in May despite warm days and regular care, the problem is almost always one of three things: nitrogen has run out, the soil has stopped breathing, or your grass has started defending itself against…

If your lawn feels spongy underfoot when you walk across it in May, the problem is almost always thatch. A thin layer of dead and living plant material at the base of the sward is normal and even beneficial, but…

If your lawn has suddenly grown a pale, wispy haze of stalks that defy your mower and bounce back up an hour after cutting, you are looking at seed heads. From mid to late May, almost every lawn made of…

There are two kinds of dog owners with lawns. The first kind has accepted that their grass is a write-off and stopped caring. The second kind keeps trying to figure out why the same patches keep turning yellow despite watering,…

The single visual change that lifts a tidy lawn to a professional looking lawn is a clean edge. You can mow perfectly straight stripes, feed regularly, water deeply, and the garden will still look unfinished if the lawn edge crumbles…

Spring rain followed by a sudden warm spell is one of the most common situations every gardener has to deal with in May. The grass shoots up four or five centimetres in a few days, you look out of the…