It’s Still Just Dirt, February 2014
by Penny Esseltine

“Right now lawns are sleeping under the snow waiting to come alive,” says Jim Galbraith talking to the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society earlier this month. Jim is Manager of Landscape Services, Facilities Management, at the University of Western Ontario, and we all know that they have lovely lawns there. “Lawns are an important part of our green world,” Jim says.

Here, for all of us who labour to grow grass with anything from poor to mediocre to lush lawn results, are just 10 of the tips that Jim says will help us make lawns that are “thicker, healthier, and greener than our neighbour’s.”

In the Spring

1. If you roll your lawn, roll it when the soil is dry. Rolling your lawn in the early spring when it’s wet compacts the soil and sets the stage for bad growth.

2. Aeration can improve compaction in your lawn. Aerate your grass when it is actively growing, between May and early June (or between Labour Day and mid-October). Don’t rake the plugs off the lawn. Just let them break down.

3. “Soil structure is the most important element in a healthy lawn”, Jim says. Adding a layer of soil to turf is called top dressing. Apply top dressing immediately after aeration. This can be hard work.

4. First aerate, then top dress, then overseed. Use perennial rye grass to overseed in the spring. At just $4 to $5 a pound you can fill a fertilizer spreader with it and away you go. Perennial rye grass is drought tolerant and will come up in three to five days. Generally use one half to one pound of seed per 1,000 square feet of lawn.

5. “Try not to be the first person in your neighbourhood to mow your lawn in the spring,” Jim says. “Be the last and mow at a height of two to two and a half inches.”

Throughout the Summer

6. Never cut more than a third of the height of the grass at a time. As the temperature gets hotter, raise your mowing height to three inches. Avoid cutting your lawn in the heat of the day (between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.) and be sure to keep your lawn mower blades sharp. Mow when rain is forecast.

7. Mulching is the best way to return grass clipping nutrients to the soil as fertilizer.

8. If you irrigate, water early in the morning or late at night. How much should you water? Jim says if you water to fill a tuna can every five to seven days that’s good. “A little stress will help the roots to go deeper,” he says.

In the Fall

9. The very best time to fertilize is Labour Day weekend. Use a slow release fertilizer which lasts for six to eight weeks. “It will give your grass steroids for the winter,” Jim says.

10. Overseed with Kentucky Blue Grass which Jim says is the nicest looking variety of grass. “This is the cadillac of grass seed,” he says. “It germinates in 30 to 35 days and you might think it isn’t coming up but you will see it next spring for sure.”

Jim invites us to take a walking tour of the UWO campus in the summer. Check out the grass but enjoy too the Arboretum (where most of the trees are labelled), the Beryl Ivey Garden in the centre of campus, and the Art Gallery which has a nice sitting area. There’s an excellent Walking Tour brochure available. Visit Western on the web at www.uwo.ca.

The next meeting of the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society is set for Tuesday, March 4 when Hetty Teuber from Silverthorn Landscape Supplies in St. Thomas talks about Hardscapes in the Garden. Start time is 7:30 p.m. in the Senior Centre Auditorium at the Tillsonburg Community Centre. Everyone welcome.

For additional information about the Tillsonburg Horticultural Society check out our website at tillsonburghorticultural.ca.