Prue Ruscoe
The key to a perfect lawn is no longer a secret passed down from greens keeper to greens keeper. Instead, the answers you seek lie in online communities like Australian Lawn Fanatics and Lawn Porn.
“Greenkeepers and stadium curators were always closely guarded with their secrets but the fanatics have changed that because we have a lot of them on our page — we just wanted to help each other out,” Len Lawler, the man who started the Australian Lawn Fanatics, told news.com.au.
“It was an idea with a couple of mates to get a group of guys together to discuss lawn problems, and a way of networking with each other.
“We’ve got 16,000 members now and I’m shocked every day at its popularity.”
So what’s the secret? According to Lawyer, it’s pretty simple, really.
“You can’t grow grass in really hard soil,” Lawler said.
“You need to aerate your dirt, you need to feed your lawn at the right times and with the right stuff — we believe in slower release fertilisers, so season-long fertiliser rather than water release fertiliser.
“Remove weeds and identify disease or lawn grubs that may come in — it’s that easy.”
In addition, Lawn Porn co-founder Mark Held told the publication, the key is giving your lawn adequate attention all year round.
“If you mow consistently through the year, water deep and infrequently and just chip away at it, that will rejuvenate the lawn and you have a much better chance of your grass surviving if there are harsh conditions,” he says.
“The number one thing to do is to aerate your lawn — you can hire machines which punch holes in your lawn so air, water and oxygen can get in and bring your lawn to life — you can get great results if you do it once or twice a year.”
