Wednesday 26 January 2011

Why Scarify

Scarification is a very important part of lawn care. Scarifying improves the quality of your lawn in several ways.  It will remove organic layers of thatch, moss and dead grass whilst breaking up the surface of compacted soil and retarding the growth of weeds.  Removing thatch and weeds in this way allows water, air and nutrients to reach grass roots more easily, resulting in lush growth. It will also offer better conditions for top dressing and fertilising. Scarifying can be done with a hand lawn rake but to make the job easier and get top results a powered scarifier is a great solution
Scarifying is best done in the spring but can be beneficial during the summer as well. Do not scarify too early, it is important to make sure the grass is growing well so that any space made by scarifying is filled with desirable grasses. If grass is not growing well scarifying can give space for weeds to grow. It can be a good idea to follow scarifying with a lawn fertiliser to aid growth.
To sum up : Scarifying imporves the quality  of your lawn in serveral ways.
It Will:
  • remove organic layers of thatch, moss and dead grass
  • break up the surface of compacted soils
  • retard the growth of weeds like dandelions and plantains
  • help to remove clover, pearlwort and similar weeds