Couch Maintenance Schedule

Couch Maintenance Schedule

Follow this simple guide to ensure your lawn is lucious, and has everything it needs all year round. The reality is once your lawn is healthy, its not a massive job to keep it that way.

 

January

Check the soil to ensure its retaining moisture okay. If its getting hard and too much like a clay, apply a wetting agent.

February

We want to make sure there are no bugs throughout the lawn. To test for this is quite simple. Grab a bucket of water, and mix in some dishwashing liquid. Pour this on the lawn in three or four different areas.

Wait a couple of minutes and observe the areas for any black beetles, worms, or any type of grubs that have emerged to the surface. If there are none, great. Your lawn is bug free. If there are bugs, you need to apply an insecticide such as Lawn & Beetle Killa from Bunnings.

March

March is food month. Making sure your lawn is fed. If your lawns looking a bit sad in colour, then apply a liquid fertiliser that is rich in nitrogen. This will quickly bring up the colour and increase growth. As well as this, you want to apply a slow release, granular fertiliser. A slow release fertiliser ensures that your lawn is slowly fed ALL of the nutrients it needs (not just nitrogen!) throughout the season. 

Slow release fertiliser will keep your lawn fed for up to three months. Be sure to follow the application instructions and try to avoid over fertilising. If you’re concerned applying less more often will be ideal.

April

Now its time to aerate your lawn. This can be done using a hand held rolling aerator, or you can hire a motorised aerator for large areas. Aerating is important to ensure your soil is getting plenty of oxygen, and helps the soil absorb the nutrients that the lawn needs.

May

It’s time to top up our fertiliser, and also take care of those pesky winter weeds. Re-apply a granular slow release fertiliser, ensuring an even coverage in the lawn. Follow the instructions to ensure you don’t over fertilise. 

Applying less more often is key here. Apply a selective weeder such as Bin-Die Selective Weeder. Ensure you follow the dilutions instructions when applying. Wait around 10 days and then hand remove the dead weeds/bindies from your lawn.

June

Time to back off with the mowing! Not a lot will happen with your lawn in June. By now it should be nice and healthy, and thriving. Ensure your only mowing as needed, and that you don’t cut more then 1/3rd of the leaf off at a time.

July

Grab a screwdriver, and try and push it into your soil in a few different spots on your lawn. Is it hard to push through? This means your soil is compacted and will require aerating, this can be done by hand using a rolling aerator, or by hiring a motorised aerator. 

Once aerated it’s a good idea to apply some gypsum to your lawn. This will help break up the soil, and allow it to retain the nutrients the grass needs.

August

August is a good month to get your gear serviced. Minimal mowing will be required in August, so if you’ve been putting off getting your mower serviced, nows your time to do so.

September

In September you want to fertilise and treat weeds. Another application of a slow release fertiliser, as well as a selective weeder such as Bin-Die Selective Weeder.

October

Time to dethatch the lawn. To do this, mow it low (but not too low!) – Mow it around 20mm at a minimum. Once mowed short, use a dethatching rake rake to remove all of the thatch from your lawn. Leave yourself plenty of time, this can take a while.

November

Time to top dress. Mow your lawn to 20mm at a minimum, then source a quality, nutrient rich top dress. Apply it evenly across the lawn, using a Topdress Top Soil Spreader. Once your top soil is even and level, apply a slow release fertiliser and water in well.

December

Your hard work has paid off! Mow, mow, mow. Regular mowing encourages your lawn to grow out instead of up. Try and mow weekly when possible, even if your taking off very little. Congratulations, you now have one of the healthiest, most lucious lawns in your street. You did it.