Monty Don warns of lawn mower mistake that could ruin grass for summer months
TV star Monty Don knows how to achieve a beautiful lawn and believes positive thinking can really help in the quest.
March is the month when life begins to return to the garden following the harsh winter months. Leaves and blossoms start to bud on trees, daffodils and snowdrops are in bloom and the grass starts to grow again with the arrival of spring.
Therefore it's during this month that TV expert Monty Don recommends gardeners get their lawn mowers out and begin cutting grass again. However he urges people to act with caution and not to get too over excited by cutting it too short because this could have a disastrous effect later on in the year.
"Just give it a light trim for the rest of this month," he writes on his blog. "This will encourage good root growth and as a result the grass will be a lot healthier and better able to resist summer drought."
Monty addresses climate change on his site and says that his garden, like many in the UK, was flooded during an unseasonably warm February and he has been forced to install extra drainage. He recognises that summer may also bring with it periods of drought as part of the environmental issues we are facing but that it is "clearly something that we are going to have to live with".
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There are some precautions to take before mowing (Getty Images)Good grass, he says, needs to have well drained soil and warns that moss is a sign of poor drainage. To help with the problem, he recommends working on it once a year by sticking a fork into the ground and wiggling it around every 6 inches across the lawn.
He then says you should mix up equal portions of sieved topsoil, sharp sand and sieved leaf mould or compost. If you don't have these things, sharp or silver sand will still do the job. Spread the mixture across the area where you have made holes and brush it in with a stiff broom. This not only helps drainage but also feeds the grass.
Monty believes that positive thinking will also help you achieve the perfect lawn. By that he means not bothering with the negative issues. "Put your efforts into healthy grass rather than fighting perceived 'problems' like daisies, moss, ants, worm-casts, moles, plantains, dandelions and fairy rings," he says. "Nine times out of ten if the grass is healthy then everything else will look after itself."
Before mowing he advises giving the grass a good going over with a wire rake to remove any thatch and moss that has accumulated over the winter. This helps to let light and water to the soil and roots of the grass. After mowing, it may look a little bald but he says it will grow back "thicker than ever". Remember to pop what you have raked onto a compost heap.
Will you start mowing your lawn this month? Let us know in the comments below.
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