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Don’t wait until summer to enjoy the benefits of having a garden

We’re busy carrying out winter lawn care services across the country, but chances are the pleasure you’re getting from your garden at the moment is largely what you’re observing from the warmth and comfort of your home.

Many of us put food out during cold weather to ensure birds have enough to eat, and because we love to see them! A friendly robin occupying his regular spot on the fence or a blue tit taking advantage of a well-stocked feeder bring smiles to the faces of young and old, and most would say they would love to see more of our feathered-friends when we look out of our windows.

This week is National Nest Box Week. Organised by the British Trust for Ornithology, it aims to encourage everyone to put up nest boxes in their local area for the conservation of breeding birds and wildlife.

It’s something the whole family can get involved in, from making boxes to keeping watch for parent birds heading back to them with food for their chicks! Bird boxes can be bought or made to encourage birds of all sizes from House Sparrows to Tawny Owls, and they can be located in a whole variety of environments.

Pairs of small birds begin to prospect in the latter half of February, so a box put up at the end of the winter stands a good chance of attracting nesting birds. However, it is never too early or late to put up a nest box, as some birds will use them to roost in during the winter months.

Here are some tips to get you started.

1. Design matters! Consider the birds you’d like to encourage and the type of box your garden is suitable for.

2. Location, location, location! Don’t put a nest box on a pole in the middle of the garden. Birds prefer the security of a bit of shelter nearby. Avoid south-facing walls; the summer heat will make the box too warm for chicks.

3. Large garden? Think BIG. Large gardens with mature trees may be suitable for owl or kestrel boxes, particularly if you’re close to woodland or open countryside.

4. Town house? Use the extra storey to attract swifts. If you live in a three-storey town house, consider putting up swift boxes. Better still, ask your housebuilder to fit them when they’re constructing your house!

5. Consider other winged creatures. Bats need boxes too!

6. Nourish your new family. Parent birds find extra sources of food invaluable during the breeding season. Here’s some guidance on safe food for garden birds. Fresh water is vital too, especially when natural water sources are frozen.

7. You’ve built your box, now build your knowledge! It is a great way to help you identify and get to know the birds that visit your garden.

If your lawn is looking worse for wear, has issued with moss or is waterlogged, contact your local Lawn Master depot. Our lawn experts have years of turf care experience as groundsmen and greenkeepers. They’ll carry out a free lawn analysis and explain how they can get your lawn in great shape for the warmer months.

Why you shouldn’t neglect your lawn in winter

The work your lawn care expert carries out over the winter is some of the most important of the year. Each maintenance task and treatment application ensures that when the time comes for us to sit outside and enjoy our gardens again, your lawn is in great shape.

At this time of year, our work is carried out with great care and minimal disturbance. The long-term benefits are greater than if it is left.

Book your winter treatment

The application of our winter treatment ensures lawns emerge from winter dormancy strong, healthy and ready to grow. Applied as a liquid, an essential component is iron. Iron is a winter turf hardener which toughens the grass plant to make it resilient to harsh weather conditions, it also discourages the growth of moss. Visually it produces a dark green colour without encouraging excessive growth. The acidifying effect of iron can reduce worm cast activity, helps create a suitable environment for the growth of perennial grasses, and can prevent turf diseases and fungal attacks.

The winter treatment also provides essential nutrients for root development which gives lawns improved strength and stability. Potassium, for example, strengthens the plant’s cell walls and improves its tolerance to stress from cold and disease.

Treating lawns when it is wet and cold is still beneficial. When a winter feed is applied, especially one containing iron, having it drenched onto the leaf and into the soil is beneficial and rainfall can help the effectiveness of the fertiliser. The application may freeze to the leaf surface if it is cold enough, then as it thaws it gets to where it’s needed just as well.

Our operatives are busy aerating lawns, which relieves compaction, allows oxygen into the root zone and enourages root growth. Carried out regularly it also improves drainage and prevents waterlogging. There are several different ways to aerate a lawn. Your local Lawn Master expert can advise you on the best approach for your situation.

Winter lawn care tips

• Whenever possible, try to limit the amount of time you spend walking across the lawn. if you feed the birds daily, varying your route reduces excessive wear to one area.
• Cut back trees, bushes and herbaceous borders and clear away children’s play equipment and garden furniture. This prevents shade and maximises the flow of air across the grass keeping it drier and lessening disease pressure.
• Clear fallen leaves as quickly as possible. Left to lie on the lawn, they prevent sunlight and airflow from reaching the grass.
• The odds are shortening on a white Christmas. If we get a covering of the white stuff, build snowmen on the soil or patio to ensure patches of your lawn don’t remain covered.

What type of aeration is required for your lawn?

Over time, as a lawn receives a lot of use and foot traffic, the soil becomes hard and compact, meaning the grass is affected by the poor environment below. When the soil becomes highly compact, the lawn can easily become a little waterlogged as moisture cannot pass through into the soil properly.

Aeration is the best way of reducing soil compaction, and allows the exchange of gases from the soil underneath your lawns. Aeration is also an essential process to help reduce moss levels.

Hollow-tine and solid-tine aeration

Lawn Master can provide two types of aeration. They are hollow-tine and solid-tine aeration. Hollow-tine removes cores from the lawn and throws them onto the surface. Solid-tine is similar, but no cores are removed. Instead, the machine punches a hole into the lawn without leaving messy cores on the surface.

The most important factor to consider is whether the type of aeration being offered is the correct type for your lawn, to ensure that it is beneficial. For example, if you have a clay soil-based lawn, then hollow-tine aeration would not provide any benefits, where as solid-tine aeration would.

If hollow-tine cores are left on the surface of a clay soil-based lawn, then more problems may occur which may need to be addressed. The cores may cause more thatch and an uneven level in the lawn surface.

Although hollow-tine aeration is very effective, the vast majority of lawns in the UK only require solid-tine aeration. One of the advantages of solid-tine aeration is that no cores are left on the surface of the lawn, therefore there is no mess to clear afterwards.