If you think feeding your lawn once a year as often touted by TV celebrity gardener’s, you would be wrong.  Like any plant, lawns benefit from a feed but on a far more regular basis, but its also a complete myth that you must feed a lawn in Autumn, with something that is called an ‘autumn feed.

Well now we have cut through all that mythology and here are all the facts that you need to know.

How time has come up for the four in one marketing lawn feed.

Ever been into a garden centre and been a little confused by some of the terminology?  ‘Lawn Thickener’ or ‘Extreme Green’ are what dreams are made of and of course, they have been created by a very clever marketing company who sell us what we want to hear.  When strangely enough, a lawn thickener simply means having the correct species of grass that will naturally thicken your lawn and a simple task of lawn mowing, that when combined with this native species, will thicken your lawn further still.  And of course, ‘Extreme green’ gives us a belief that by creating a dark colour, our lawn will be even better, when in fact, extreme colour can and does cause issues somewhere down the line.

Well, the 4 in 1 type feeds have had their day.  We care for the environment and in fact, nurture it and enhance it, whereas these types of ‘polymer coated’, herbicide filled products have done nothing but harm to our soils, microbes and bacteria’s and anything living in it.  These products are very damaging to our environment so before you get taken by the marketing spiel, think about YOUR environment.  Feed the soil…. do not harm it.

Why is fertilising necessary?

If you keep a healthy, fed lawn, most of our lawn problems do not even arise. The three key elements we look for are NP and K.

Nitrogen -to promote a strong, dense plant, reducing the problems of weeds.

Phosphate– helps establish and promote healthy roots

Potassium– will enhance the plants resistance to disease, drought, wear and tear and even extreme weather

The real question that confuses all.  How often should I feed my lawn?

To answer this really depends on what you want your lawn to look like.  Over-feeding is as bad as under-feeding.  We all know that as human beings and living organisms.  So, the answer is very much down to you because there are no rules, just guidelines.  Lawns grow all year long, however, feeding them when conditions aren’t great can certainly do damage.  So the simple rule is to feed when conditions are good.  For the UK that’s generally between March and October.  Feeding outside of those months can be done, but rarely, if ever using any Nitrogen, with most applying a product that controls moss, as moss spores activate anywhere from October through to February.

So how often is down to what product you wish to apply, how often that product will last, current environmental conditions (rainfall, drought etc) 

Now, here at the association weve always not just looked at simplicity, but also on sustainability.  As lawn keepers we have a responsibility to look after our little green oasis, so the Truegrass product we sell today is by far the most sustainable product on the market.  It feeds your soils, which helps feed your lawn plants, making them happier and healthier.

So, you still haven’t answered the question?

Well, you see, how many times we feed is always a little subjective and with our Truegrass product, we suggest anywhere from 4-12 weeks depending how heavy an application may be (a light application will possibly last 4-6 weeks, a heavy application may last 8-12 weeks) But a great rule of thumb is to learn how often it lasts in your environment but feed your lawn before it runs out.  Lawn plants like consistency rather than being fed, followed by being starved of food, then being given a large amount once more.

So, you see, all anyone can do is learn how often they want to feed it.  Do it every 4-6 weeks and you should be in much better control of growth and colour than if you plan to feed every 12 weeks.  That is simple.  The rest will be up to you.

The next most confused question.  What do I feed in Spring, summer, autumn and winter?

When we normally buy fertilisers, we often forget that were being sold them.  Being sold the dream.  Reading messages that promise us the earth (even if it costs the earth) Every sales product is always the best.  They cannot all be the best, can they?

Now, there are some rules that can help us at certain seasons but unless we do practical things like scarify, aerate, and mow well, the even those are not that significant.  What I mean is, throwing phosphate down to increase plant rooting wont help if you are not helping the roots get anywhere.  All nutrients need us to do the practical side well and consistently so that we can utilise every inch out of the feeds we apply.

So, a Spring fertiliser.  What is that?  What’s special about a fertiliser used in Spring?  Surely Spring is great, and anything will work?

So, lets simplify this a bit more;

• SPRING-often is sometimes warmer, sometimes colder nowadays but the TRUTH is that were often just sold a fertiliser that contains a form of Nitrogen that releases at colder temperatures than some. Marketing name it fast start when in fact, its just doing what it needs to.
• SUMMER- here were often told that safety to feed is our biggest concern. Should we feed anyway when its so dry?  Why must we water it in?  Summer time, when extremes can occur is still a good time to feed, even for recovering after that dry spell.  However, using just a feed such as Truegrass, where it cannot scorch is all you need to know.
• AUTUMN-its always told it’s the best time of year for lawns….apparently. Feed your lawn now to make it strong over winter.  Sadly, over-feeding now can be very detrimental as the one thing we can guarantee about autumn, is that cold, wet winter follows.  A possible dangerous time to be applying too much NPK.  So, again, with Truegrass its about small amounts of balanced feeding that wont enhance top growth like other feeds.  Keep feeding the soils and the plants will use what it can, when it can.
• WINTER-well here is a strange one. Were told we do not have to do anything in winter.  Why would we? Its cold, its wet and nothing much grows?  Go into a garden centre and were not even sold anything so it must be right?  Again, ask an expert and they will tell you what does grow during winter and that’s MOSS.  And it’s the one thing we haven’t learnt form any lawn or turfcare person.  In fact, treating a lawn during winter can be the most important feed you do.  But let’s simplify it again.  Aiding moss control in winter is one thing and we all know Fe is what we use.  However, its also used because of its ability to lock up nutrients and harden the plant up during wintertime.  A NEW PRODUCT TO MAKE IT SIMPLER FOR EVERYONE IS ON OUR SHOP VERY SOON

GRANULAR OR LIQUID, WHICH IS BEST?

The simple answer again is both can work for you.  Granules last longer and 4-6 of them can feed any lawn for a whole year.  Liquids enter the leaf blade and of course, we mow more so inevitably they cant last as long.  However, a mixture of the two can work well for a high maintenance lawn.

To point out again, there are a million different ways to feed a lawn.  It comes down to choice of product.  How long it may last.  What the cost is.  Keeping it simple works for many.  Enthusiasts may want extra control on colour and growth and so embrace both granules and liquids but its up to you to see what works and how much effort you want to put in.

By nature, granules can aid soil microbes and bacteria better than liquids that often enter through the leaf.  Just decide what may work for you.

SO, HOW CAN I APPLY GRANULES AND LIQUIDS?

Here at the association, we are battling to make things simple.  As you will see, we have granular spreaders on our shop.  From hand held to the most professional ones.  What we try and make easy is to give you pre-calibrations that take all that confusion away.

But some simple rules are;

• Always spread fertiliser using a disc spinner as shown in picture 1. This creates a much better application on the ground, compared to drop spreaders which have been designed for ‘seeding’ and or (sadly) applying those dreadful 4 in 1 type feed and weeds (so that herbicide doesn’t contaminate and kill your beds)
• Try and apply in two diagonal directions at half rate, so that ‘streaking’ can never happen.
• Wash in any spillages as soon as possible
• Always mow the lawn beforehand, so that you give the lawn a few days before you mow again
• Wash out spreaders and sprayers after using