Christopher Hinton is the vice president of Crookwell Garden Festival and has a Associate Diploma in Horticulture. Mr Hinton has some advice for spring lawns and now is the time to prepare.
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He says, “Autumn is a great time to get the lawn in shape for spring in cool climates. The soil is still warm and the roots can respond to fertilizing and nourishment before the dormancy of winter approaches. This provides a kick-start of nutrient for the spring flush as the nutrient is stored in the roots, stolons and rhizomes.
Autumn is also a good time to core the lawn, which means extracting cylindrical pieces of soil in a regular fashion using a coring machine or manual corer. The idea behind this is for autumn rains to be able to easily penetrate the ground compacted by summer lawn use and for the lawn to aerate.
Water, air and warmth are important for respiration where the plant produces the food supply it needs for spring and to grow more root before the cooler months approach. Good filtration of water will also assist the uptake of nutrients and room for air will mean healthy gases will also be at the root zone. After coring it is a good idea to lightly top dress with a sandy loam.
Loam has traces of clay, which harbours nutrient and also fine sand to assist with water filtration. Alternatively, the coring cylinders can sit on top of the grass to dry and be mowed in to allow the coring holes to be filled with lighter soil.
Early autumn is also a good season to oversow in patchy lawns as the summer temperatures are passing and there is less opportunity for the soil to dry out during germination.
Ensure that the seed is in close contact with moist soil as it will only germinate when it can absorb moisture through the seed coat. It is wise not to do this if the grass species is susceptible to frost like Kikuyu. Early and mid autumn feeding can assist root growth initially and then be stored as nutrient before winter sets in.
A good lawn fertilizer with a balance of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (N:P:K) will not only help leaf blade growth in spring but help to prevent disease and for the grass to have healthy growth function.
It is advisable not to overfeed but stick to recommended quantities per square metre to reduce excessive salt build up in the soil. Fertilising should be accompanied by adequate watering if a dryer autumn is experienced.
Weeds also like to store up nutrient for winter, so an application of a weed and feed type product may feed the grass and eliminate competing broad leaf weeds.
Preparing your lawn in autumn can provide strong roots, nutrient storage and the conditions suitable for strong and healthy growth in spring.”
