Creeping cinquefoil is the low, flat weed with leaves split into five toothed leaflets and small yellow flowers, and it throws out long runners that root every few inches and shrug off most lawn weedkillers. The way to beat it…
Worm casts are small coils of muddy soil that a few earthworm species push up onto the lawn, and they turn slippery and smear across the grass the moment a mower or a boot goes over them wet. The fix…
The birds ripping up your lawn are hunting chafer grubs feeding on the roots below, and the damage peaks in early autumn as the grubs fatten up. Watering in Heterorhabditis bacteriophora nematodes while the soil is still 12 to 20 degrees Celsius kills the grubs without any chemicals.
An autumn lawn feed should be high in potassium and phosphorus and low in nitrogen, so it builds roots and hardens the grass for winter rather than forcing soft top growth. Scatter it at 20 to 30 grams per square metre just before rain, after scarifying and aerating, and only on a lawn that is still growing.
A light scatter of leaves does little harm, but a wet mat left sitting for more than a week or two blocks the light from the grass and traps damp against it, and the blades underneath start to yellow and…
The weeds in your paving joints are not growing up through the slabs, they are rooting in the grit and dirt that has collected in the gaps, which is why pulling the tops off never works for long. A paving…
Thatch is the spongy brown layer of dead stems, old roots and flattened moss that builds up between the green grass and the soil, and a thin layer of it is normal and even useful. Scarifying rakes that layer out…
Hard, compacted ground starves grass roots of the air and water they need, which is why a worn lawn thins out, puddles after rain and limps through the colder months. Pushing a fork or a hollow tine tool through the…
Speedwell spreads by creeping stems that root wherever they touch the soil, so every cut or tug that leaves a fragment behind starts a fresh plant. Lawn weedkillers barely dent it, and a thicker, better-fed lawn mown a notch higher…
Yarrow creeps through a lawn on underground stems and shrugs off close mowing, so cutting it or pulling the tops only leaves the roots to grow straight back. Raking each patch upright before you mow, lifting the roots out to…
