Lawn types

There are a number of different lawn types. It is reasonably easy to say that you have a 'good' or 'bad' lawn but for the purposes of this exercise, we are going to split the groups of lawn into three categories:

• First rate lawn (Luxury Grade)
• First rate Lawn (Utility Grade)
• Second rate lawn &
• Worn out lawn

It is important to know which lawn yours is, especially if you have just moved into a new house in order to assess how much work your lawn is likely to be. To try and understand which yours is, answer yourself the following questions by clicking on the Yes or no options beneath the questions until you are taken to the correct type of lawn. It will be worth going out and having a look at your lawn in a little more detail first!

Is my lawn pretty much free of moss and weeds?

Yes / No

Is my lawn from brown patches?

Yes / No

Is my lawn flat (No lumps or depressions)?

Yes / No

Is my lawn a uniform green colour and an even type texture across the whole space?

Yes / No

Is it pretty quick to drain after a big downpour?

Yes / No

Is my lawn free from bare earth or heaps of soil?

Yes / No

Are the grass leaves very fine making your lawn look like similar to a bowling green?

Yes / No

Is your lawn full of weeds and/or moss with very little actual grass?

Yes / No

Is the grass that is there few and far between with mostly earth showing?

Yes / No

Luxury lawns are pretty much unmistakable when you look at them. They have a 'bowling green' style look to them and have close pile which is soft and velvety.

First rate luxury grade lawn

Be warned however! Lawns like this are a very visual beast. If you have children wanting to play football or want to use it as a path, this kind of lawn is certainly not for you. The lawn is a visual thing and little more!

• Looks great.
• Not very hard wearing for games or paths.
• Will not stand up to being neglected for any length of time.
• New lawns take a long time to establish as seed slow growing.
• Very careful site preparation needed meaning they are more expensive.
• Seed is far more expensive to buy.

Seed types for a first rate luxury lawn:

Bents:

Agrostis tenuis (Browntop)
Agrostis canine montana (Brownbent)
Agrostis stolonifera (Creeping Bent)
Agrostis canina canina (Velvet Bent)

Fescues:

Festuca rubra commutata (Chewings Fescue)
Festuca rubra rubra (Creeping Red Fescue)
Festuca ovina (Sheep's Fescue)
Festuca longifolia (Hard Festcue)

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This cannot compare to the First rate (Luxury Grade) lawn, but this kind of lawn does enable you to use it to some extent. It is a luxury lawn with added practicality. The lawn is visually impressive but allows a certain amount of practicality. Not for use with grass paths or football fields! 

• Looks good.
• Able to withstand putting washing out.
• Able to stand moderate amounts of being played on.
• Able to withstand moderate amounts of neglect.
• Lower cost of seed.
• Native grass (weeds) don't show quite as easily.
• Grass grows quicker so needs cutting more often.
  

Seed types for a first rate luxury lawn:

Meadow Grasses:

Poa pratensis (Smooth-Stalked Meadow Grass)
Poa trivialis (Rough Stalked Meadow Grass)
Poa nemoralis (Wood Meadow Grass)
Poa annua (Annual Meadow Grass)

Ryegrass, Timothy and Crested Dog's-tail:

Lolium (Perennial Ryegrass)
Cynosurus cristatus (Crested Dog's-tail)
Phleum pratense (Timothy)
Phleum bertolonii (Lesser Timothy)

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This type of lawn accounts for the vast majority of lawns in the UK. There is a substantial amount of grass but there are generally at least one or two problems associated with your lawn.

The biggest cause of a lawn to be a second rate lawn is the fact that they are not looked after properly or neglected. Over mowing, under mowing, feeding too much, feeding too little, watering infrequently, or too much or too little or any of the above combinations can affect the quality of the grass.

Many issues are actually caused by other problems other than human however! Shade from fences, hedges or trees, dog urine, heavy foot traffic and dripping from overhanging trees.

The positive thing about many of the above issues is that they can be solved if a little TLC is given to the lawn as the basic essential, the grass itself is already there. The most important thing to do is to establish what is actually causing the problem, whilst the second is to prevent the problems happening again. If the whole area is pretty poor, then it might be worth thinking about starting again from scratch. 

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Your lawn is a Worn out lawn

This kind of lawn is commonly seen in parks and grass paths. The obvious feature of this type of lawn is a basic lack of grass, either sparse, patches or just bare earth. Weeds which are generally wide leaved, will have taken the place of where the grass was and the result is extremely unsightly. There is an exception to this where the grass is made up nearly 100% of moss and Pearlwort.

If you need to make a proper lawn, the lawn needs to be started again from scratch, but also it is really important to know why the lawn has gone like this in the first place to make sure it does not happen again. If the area is only a small area which has been affected, clear the top growth and treat as you would for bare patches in 'normal' lawns. If the area is larger and you would prefer not to have a large bare patch, apply lawn sand in spring raking out any weeds around 3 weeks later and re-seed the area with about 28g per square metre. The seed mixture needs to have the same mixture as the surrounding area of lawn. The exception to this is if the lawn to be replaced is under a shady tree and specialist shade resistant grass seed will need to be used.

The reason the lawn deteriorated in the first place has to be identified in order to stop the same problem occuring again.

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If you interested, there are specialist mixes of seeds which you can seed your lawn with to create spaces like bowling greens or football fields but these can be expensive due to the cost of the grass seed. 

Lawn Care:
 Jobs to do
 Equipment
 Mowing
 When do I cut my grass?
 Top dressing
 Feeding
 Watering
 Trimming
 Raking and brushing
 Aerating 
 Liming and Rolling

Lawn Problems:
 Pests
 Diseases
 Weeds
 Brown patches
 Repairs