Lawn maintenance - Best Tools and Tips

by Henri Durand September 30, 2022

Why maintain your lawn?

A well maintained lawn has many benefits from increasing your property's value, provide a pleasant place for kids and adults to play, lower the temperature of the area in summer and as a bonus, it will make your house and garden look more attractive overall.

Here are a few tips for lawn maintenance:

Top Dressing:

You must top dress in the growing season once the weather has warmed, NOT in winter. It is usually best to top dress in spring or as soon as you have reached your regular weekly mow. The earlier in the growing season the better. Generally late spring to early summer is best. Don't apply too thickly or it will tend to kill off patches of grass, depleting areas of light and oxygen. Annual application is best.

When: mid - late Spring
How often: minimum yearly, maximum 6 weekly intervals
How much: thin layer sand or light soil - (5 mm. to 1 cm.).

Tools for Top Dressing:

WOLF GARTEN Lawn Fertilizer Spreader / Seed Drill WE-430

WOLF GARTEN Lawn Fertilizer Spreader / Seed Drill WE-330

WOLF GARTEN Multi-Change Long Span Rake - 58cm - Head Only

BURGON & BALL Garden Ground Rake - RHS Endorsed

Spiking / Aerating:

Why would you want holes in your lawn? Aerating supports deep root growth, which produces a strong and more luscious lawn for you to enjoy. What is ‘aerating’ exactly? It’s the task of perforating the turf and soil with small holes, which allows air, water and nutrients to soak in. When your soil becomes too compacted it tends prevent water and nutrients from being properly absorbed and essentially starve your lawn.

When aerating your lawn, you want to make sure it will have adequate time to heal and fill any holes left in the soil. For this, you will want some moisture, so the peak of summer isn’t ideal. Autumn and spring are the perfect time to aerate and prepare your lawn for a summer of use. Remember to aerate only when the soil has received a good soaking - it's very hard to aerate a dry lawn. The plugs (little bits of dirt cores) will break down over time, just leave them as they are on the top of the lawn.

When: mid - late Spring and/or Autumn
How often: minimum yearly, maximum 6 monthly
How much: Spacing between holes: approx. 10cm

Tools for Aerating:

DRAPER 2 In 1 Lawn Aerator/Scarifier (1500W) 320mm

DRAPER TOOLS Heavy Duty Hollow Tine Lawn Aerator

DRAPER TOOLS Rolling Lawn Aerator (450mm Spiked Drum)

CORONA ComfortGEL® Grip YardBREATHER® Aerator

Raking / Scarifying

If you have anything other than a pure Rye grass lawn (a cool climate grass) it will need dethatching or scarifying at some point. Generally the finer the lawn the more care it will require. These fine lawns can look great with the right care but do build up layers of thatch quite quickly.

Thatch layers of 1 inch or more become barriers instead of benefits. Thick thatch blocks water and fertilizer, and grass roots get trapped in thatch, where they're vulnerable to heat, drought and stress. When this happens the lawn starts to feel spongy underfoot. Water from irrigation can accumulate in the thatch layer, too, so grass roots suffocate from lack of air.

When: mid - late Spring and/or Autumn
How often: annually
How much: 2mm - 4mm

Tools for Scarifying:

DRAPER 2 In 1 Lawn Aerator/Scarifier (1500W) 320mm

WOLF GARTEN Multi-Change Scarifying Roller Rake - Head Only

WOLF GARTEN Multi-Change Scarifying Rake - Head Only

Watering

This is a tricky one as all lawns have different moisture needs so there is not a one sizes fits all answer to this question. Very often our lawn watering schedule in Australia is dictated by local water regulations especially during a drought. Sometimes this can also include being allowed to only water 'by a hand held hose'

There are however, some universal tips for all lawn watering to remember:

Water in the early morning or evening. This limits water wastage due to excessive evaporation
If the above maintenance tips are followed, whatever watering schedule you choose will be more effective.
If possible set up a sprinkler system or pulsating sprinkler if your local regulations allow it. This is more time-efficient than hand held watering and obtains a better coverage.
Do not overwater during cooler months
Apply a wetting agent. This assist in water absorption into the soil, so water is absorbed properly into the waxy layer of the soil.

Tools for Watering:

DRAMM ColourStorm Oscillating Garden Sprinkler

DRAMM ColourStorm Spinning Monarch Garden Sprinkler

DRAMM ColourStorm Whirling 3 arm Garden Sprinkler

See Botanex's best lawn watering Tools from Dramm HERE

Mowing & Edging:

Now this is probably the most universally enjoyed tasks in the garden, surveying a freshly mowed lawn always seems to make it all worthwhile! There's nothing like getting out there on a balmy summer morning mowing your lawn and enjoying the scent of fresh cut grass!

Even though a fresh mowed lawn makes your garden look instantly neater this is where the devil is in the details...Don't forget the edges! Leaving the edges messy on a lawn is a bit like vacuuming your carpet but leaving crumbs and dead flies next to the skirting boards!

Here are out top edging tools:

Tools for Edging:

BURGON & BALL Lawn Edging Shears - Long Handled

CORONA ComfortGEL® Grip EdgeMASTER® Lawn Edger

BURGON & BALL Half Moon Lawn Edger - RHS Endorsed

BURGON & BALL Single Handed Grass Shear

WOLF GARTEN Battery Powered Grass Shear - 100mm

WOLF GARTEN Multi-Change Lawn Edger - Star Wheel - Head Only

Weeding:

ALL WEEDING TOOLS HERE

Ahh. weeding. Either you find it a chore or relaxing. either way, its got to be done if you want a spikey free, weed free outdoor oasis. If you dislike chemicals, or just come across a pesky patch of dandelions, we have the gear for back saving de-weeding!

BURGON & BALL Lawn Weeding Knife

CORONA ComfortGEL® Grip WeedDESTROYER® Weeding Tool

WOLF GARTEN Ergo Garden Weeder Tool

WOLF GARTEN Multi-Change Weed Extractor - Head Only

Fertilizing:

The very best time for lawn fertilization is in the spring, when the soil temperature—not the air temperature—reaches 12º C. You’ll know when the soil warms up to 12ºC because the lilacs and rhododendrons will begin to blossom and the grass will start growing. One aspect of successful fertilization is to spread your choice of fertilizer correctly. this can be done with the assistance of a fertilizer spreader.

When: mid - late Spring and/or Autumn
How often: during growing season every 6-8 weeks
How much: use a slow release complete lawn fertilizer granule type, spread using a lawn spreader

WOLF GARTEN Hand Held Lawn Fertilizer Spreader / Seed Drill WE-B