13 brilliant fertilising tips and tricks

If you’re not a fan of raking leaves, then consider investing in a mulching mower. A mulching mower shreds leaves into tiny flakes that settle into the autumn grass and decompose into natural fertiliser. You might have to go over some areas two or three times to completely chop up the leaves. Still, it’s fast, easy and it makes the grass happy – and there’s no raking involved!

People tend to overapply fertiliser to shady areas because the grass is struggling. But that just kills it faster!

Many people really have two lawns – a lawn that gets full sun for most of the day, and a shaded lawn that may get only two to four hours of direct sun – and their water and fertiliser needs are different. The grass in shady areas needs less water because less evaporates, and it needs less fertiliser because with less sun it doesn’t grow as much. When you go into shade, shift the controls on the spreader so you’re spreading about half the amount.

Learn what to plant in a shady garden.

Broadcast spreaders do a great job of spreading grass seed, fertiliser and weed killer on larger lawns because they throw the material out more consistently over a wide area. However, unless you know how much area they cover for each type of product, you can end up spreading too much or too little and get bad results. The best way to find out the actual dispersal pattern for your broadcast spreader is to do a test run on your driveway and then measure the results.

Clean off a section of the driveway. Close the flow lever on your spreader and set the controls for the product you’re using. Fill the spreader – do this on the driveway to avoid spills on the grass – then open the flow lever and push the spreader a couple of metres down the centre of the driveway at your normal pace, continuing for a few steps after you close the hopper. Measure the average dispersal pattern to the sides and front.

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Source: Family Handyman