Gardening Tips » March

Planting a bare root hedge and sorting that moss in the lawn

Planting a bare root hedge and sorting that moss in the lawn

The answer is yes! I've planted bare - root hedging in early april. April planting isnt ideal, but to compensate. I had to irrigate during a dry spell in april. They thrived!

March planting should not be a problem. The key to sucess is to water when dry and make sure there are no weeds growing closer than 50cm as they will compete for water.

To give your bare - root hedging the best possible start. When finished planting. Water the plants in, water them during any dry spells. The most critical time is when the leaves begin to shoot out. This is a time when a lot of energy is used and moisture is vital.

 

Moss in your Lawn.

Moss is often wrongly described as the cause of a poor lawn. Moss is in fact the result of a poor lawn. One which has been neglected. The rule of thumb is, keep your root zone in good condition, improve overall growing conditions and your grass will grow strongly, making it impossible for moss and weeds to compete.

Good aeration is essential but sometimes you might need some chemical help to assist. A simple treatment is the application of sulphate of iron, to help suppress the moss.

The common moss that is present in many lawns is springy moss. It's properties are made up of over 90% water. Sulphate of Iron will quickly expel the water and allow the grass to strengthen.

Even after as little as one hour, moss will start to blacken, after two days, the moss content will have reduced and turned brown whilst the grass will have turned extremely green.

Always try to apply Sulphate of iron on a dry still day but with rain imminent, ideally no longer than 12 hours(this is to avid scorching)the moisture dissolves the sulphate of iron. Once the moss has died back, you can scarify out the debris - ideally 5 -14 days after application.


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