The appeal of spring is much like the titillation of a striptease. Glimpses of sunlight dance into corners of the garden where we’ve missed it all winter. And although it’s still colder than it has been all year, the sunlight carries the promise of hazy days of lolling around.
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However, it’s a good month before the weather settles into an even pace that will provide young plants with the right growing conditions, so we shouldn’t leap into sowing seeds and planting just yet. Instead, we can use these days to slowly peel away the layers of weeds and leaves in preparation for the planting season. It is also the time to start preparing for laying a perfect lawn.
The perfect turf is not for the organic gardener or the ecologically sensitive. Environmentally, this green carpet has little going for it. After all, the intention of a lawn is to create a seamless crop of limited species that will provide an even and ordered surface. Its origin is in agriculture, with the scything of fields for winter feed. The clearing back of nature from around dwellings also kept them safe from snakes and unknown evils possibly lurking in long grass and on the edges of woodlands.
At first, the luxury of an ornamental lawn was only for the upper classes. Landscape designers such as Lancelot “Capability” Brown created these rolling country-scapes mown by pastoral animals that were kept back from the grounds proper by the use of a “ha-ha” – essentially a sunken ditch with a retaining wall that could not be seen from the main house, giving a seamless view. The lawns closer to the house were hand-scythed by cheap labour.
During the Industrial Revolution a new movement in England resulted in the National Trust. One of its main objectives was to preserve green spaces within cities for all people, and areas such as London’s Hyde Park were trimmed by sheep and cattle. During the middle of the 19th century, around the time of the great Crystal Palace exhibition, this began to be seen as untidy and inappropriate in a city environment, so the animals were replaced by labour. The first lawn mower was patented around this time. Without it, we would be looking at a very different cityscape today.
With the rise of the middle classes and the lawn mower, which went hand in hand with an existing fear of snakes and spiders in wild grasses, an industry worth billions was created. And although we have no snakes in New Zealand, we have adopted the domestic lawn at the heart of our domestic culture. It has become an art form.
The perfect lawn requires consistency and regularity in all areas, including ground preparation, sowing or rolling out turf, watering, feeding and weed control.
Now is the time to start the foundation work. The quality and uniformity of the soil is critical. A soil mix needs regular-sized particles, as this will help create a level surface and allow for even water distribution and growth. Ideally, your chosen soil should be consistent to a depth of 10cm, which is the extent of lawn roots. The base below this should be carefully levelled so the growing medium has a good foundation.
When laying out the soil mix, tie a long, flat piece of timber to the end of a rake so you can push it back and forth to level the surface. When walking on the area use planks so your weight is evenly distributed; this also helps settle the soil.
Ideally, the final levelling should be done with a lawn roller, which is a large empty drum with a handle. This drum is filled with water to add weight to ensure the soil is well compressed. You can always expect some settling and to counter this make the middle slightly concave.
Alternatively, be prepared to top-dress with a thin layer of dip-filling soil in autumn. It is also important to check the mix, sourced from any high-quality supplier, is weed-free.
This well-prepared surface will provide a good bed for seed or turf. The main advantage of seed is being able to select the ideal variety for your situation, be it sunny or shady. On the other hand turf provides instant satisfaction and most turf growers have selected grasses to suit your region. They should grow consistently throughout the year.
Regardless of which method you choose, the next essential is an even supply of water. This is a challenge, as any watering system needs to be monitored along with rainfall and transpiration. Growth will be hampered if there’s insufficient water, but too much will make the ground spongy and possibly encourage moss, algae and lawn diseases.
Early morning is the optimum time for watering, and in dry periods of high heat, watering must occur daily. If you want to reduce your lawn “guilt”, I recommend a water tank. This will allow you to collect and reuse grey water from the shower or washing. Alternatively, it can be used to collect rain water.
Feeding requirements need to be closely monitored, too; respond to the grass growth rather than just giving it a regular dose every week or month. The trick is to feed just before the lawn gets hungry. Use the packet instructions as a starting point, but take note of what’s happening around you; if spring is late, feed the lawn a little later.
Finally, the curse of all lawn lovers is weeds. Some weed control comes down to getting the other factors right, and creating a tight lawn that repels invading seedlings. For this to occur, cutting is important. A low-cut lawn is not the answer, as this is not the optimum height for grass and instead provides ideal conditions for prickles and low-lying broadleaf weeds such as daisies and dandelions.
Ideally, you should put your mower on the highest setting and remove no more than a third of the growth each time. For a well-fed and watered lawn at the height of summer, this can sometimes mean mowing twice a week – in winter it may be fortnightly. The mower blade must be kept sharp, otherwise your lawn will look ragged. A professional lawn mowing contractor should be sharpening the blade monthly, whereas home owners can probably get by with doing it once or twice a year.
With your lawn in optimum condition, the next step is to watch out for intruders and deal with them immediately. I have a special long-armed tool that pulls broad-leaf weeds neatly out of a lawn without digging a large hole. Maintaining your borders also becomes important. If your garden is weedy, you can’t expect to keep them out of the lawn.
All labour aside, there are a host of chemicals that will selectively target lawn weeds. This is when I bow out of the pursuit of the perfect lawn. For perfectionists, glory comes at a price.