Top Soil 2you

Laying turf is a great option if you want a lawn quickly. Turf is purchased by the roll, is rooted and growing in a thin layer of soil, and can be easier to lay than you’d think.

Mid-Autumn, when the soil is still warm from the summer but the weather is cool and wet, is the optimum time to lay the turf. As long as the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged, it can be laid at any time of the year.

It only takes a short while to lay the turf, it is worthwhile to spend time getting your soil ready first. If it’s feasible, allow yourself a few weeks to get the ground prepared before laying the lawn.

You should start laying no later than 24 hours after taking delivery. Laying against one edge first, then working outward. Stagger the turf sections to resemble bricks. Make sure there are no gaps and that the lawn edges are tightly abutted. When finished, properly water the lawn.

Watering your fruit and vegetable garden is one of the fundamental parts of making you’re your crop grows big and disease-free. But when should you water it? And how often? This can be one of the trickiest things to know. Here are some essential tips to help you water your fruit and vegetables properly.

Crops will be thirsty, but you also need to be careful not to over-water them. Over-watering can have an impact on the taste of your produce.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5H-QjSuHnxU Over-watering will dilute flavours and produce bland-tasting crops. Ensure they get enough liquid by watering them more regularly when they start to grow, then reduce the frequency when they begin to ripen.

Follow these tips, and you will soon begin to establish your plan for watering your garden. Providing the proper irrigation will feel like second nature to you in no time at all.

The lawn needs to be cut no matter what type of gardener you are. The best time to cut is between March and October; however, this depends on certain conditions being met.

You should not cut your lawn if the soil is soft or due to frost within 24 hours. You will damage the turf and compact the soil if you mow during these conditions.
If your garden is shaded, this will impact when you start mowing as a shady lawn does not grow as fast.

The time of day you cut your lawn has an impact too. If it’s too early in the morning, the grass may be wet with dew and early evening is not optimal as the grass won’t have time to recover before nightfall.

As grass is one of the first plants to start growing in spring, it is a good indicator of when the season will start. Likewise, the grass is the last thing to stop growing in winter. 

Lawnmowers get a lot of use, especially in the spring and summer, but how can you ensure that it staying in good working order.  Here are a few tips.

Before undertaking any maintenance on a lawnmower, remove the spark plug.  This will ensure that it does not start up by accident.

If your mower is a four-stoke, do not tip it on its side with the spark plug to the ground.  Two-stroke mowers, you can tip it anyway as long as it does not spill from the tank.

After winter storage, check that the fuel in the tank has not gone stale.  To avoid this problem, run your lawnmower for 5-10 minutes every three weeks to be ready to go in the spring.

If your lawnmower is a four-stroke, we recommend changing the oil at least once a year.

When doing maintenance, check the air filter as a clogged filter can affect the mower’s performance.

Sometimes the blades on a lawnmower may need changing or sharpening, so check them regularly if you find that grass is being ‘chewed up’.

After either heavy planting or being left bare for long periods of time, soil will dry out and lose its nutrients. The best way to help improve soil and keep it from becoming infertile, is by using particular plants or cover crops that help provide nutrients and protect the soil.

Six Plants/Cover Crops to Enrich the Soil:

• Fava Beans- put nitrogen into soil, suppress weeds and produce edible beans

• Field Peas- provide nitrogen to the soil, are a winter annual and produces edible peas

• Red Clover- protects the soil, prevents weeds, is edible and attracts beneficial insects

• Comfrey- the leave provides a lot of nutrients to the soil when used as fertiliser

• Borage- edible and great for attracting pollinators

• Dandelion- edible, medicinal and helps pull nutrients from deep in the soil upwards

These six plants or cover crops provide a lot of beneficial qualities that will help improve your soil and protect it from damage, from the sun.

When trying to get things to grow in your garden, one thing that can help you plant the right things and keep them alive, is knowing what type of soil you have and how to tell. There are several different types of soil and they all have their varying qualities.

• Clay soils- are heavy soils that drain slowly, can be fertile, and take longer to warm up in spring. They are easily compacted when wet and bake hard in summer.

• Sandy soils- are light soils that have mostly sand, but a little clay, little nutrients and drain quickly after rain or watering. They warm up and dry up quickly.

• Silt soils- are fertile, fairly well draining and easily compacted.

• Loams- are a mixture of clay, sand and silt, are well-drained, fertile and easily worked.

• Peat soils- are very fertile, mostly consisting of organic matter and hold moisture well.

• Chalky or lime-rich soils- can be light or heavy but mostly consist of calcium carbonate and very alkaline.

Regardless of your soil type, once you have identified which you have, it can make it easier to know what to do to improve it, if you need to, or to know what sorts of plants will be best suited for that soil type.