17 October 2016
Time for the turf
For some gardeners turf becomes their obsession. Maybe their
interest has been sparked through a love of golf, or perhaps
through a more tactile reason, but the results seem to be similar
and the mere mention of a rotary bladed mower will see them bridle
visibly. Although I have grown to really appreciate the fine cut of
an eleven blade cylinder mower, I have never really subscribed to
the turf club. Turf is for those of us lucky enough to live in an
amenable climate taken rather for granted; a green backdrop linking
our gardens to the landscape and providing open spaces in which to
linger.
The lawns at Allt-y-bela are still a work in progress. Whenever a
new project is underway it is the lawns, more often than not, that
take the bulk of the traffic and suffer the most damage. When the
stream was being walled a few years ago the stone was tipped onto
boards on the lawns and by the end of the project they were in a
very sorry state. As the garden is still under construction we are
not expecting the lawns to be the best in the land but I have
become rather committed to improving their appearance and general
health!
This autumn we have bought a new piece of kit which should help in
our endeavour. In previous years we have hired scarifiers to rake
through the meadows in order to clear some space for sowing rattle
seed. This year we have taken it one step further and bought
one.
For those unfamiliar with scarifiers they are in effect just
motorised rakes which tend to be used in the autumn to remove
thatch and moss from the lawn, once the material is removed you can
then re-seed any bare patches and top dress the rest of the lawn.
The top dressing is traditionally a mixture of sand and topsoil,
usually somewhere in the ratio of 70% sand to 30% soil. The top
dressing is particularly useful if your soil is heavy as the sand
will be incorporated into the soil altering the texture over
time.
Scarifying is also a very useful technique in maintaining a
flowering meadow. Once the meadow has been mowed down and the
cuttings cleared away, the action of scarifying not only removes
any thatch or plant material deep down in the sward, it also opens
up soil spaces into which you can sow yellow rattle seed. Yellow
rattle is invaluable in keeping the grasses under control in a
meadow, which it does by parasitising the grass roots. A meadow in
which the grass is strong and healthy is one where the grass will
simply outcompete the native wildflowers. Yellow rattle is sown
fresh and needs to be in contact with the soil so now is the time
to get it done!
We will be scarifying our main lawns twice a year over the next
few years in order to produce thicker, healthier lawns. If you
wanted to scarify your own lawn this autumn and it isn't too vast
then you can do just as good a job with a good spring tine rake.
(It's a very good work out as you need to really get in amongst the
grass) It's then essential to collect as much raked material as
possible, you certainly don't want your hard work going to waste by
that thatch getting back into the lawn! If on the other hand you
really aren't that keen to spend hours attacking the lawn with a
rake then you can hire scarifiers. It may take a little phoning
around as not all plant hire companies have them, but they do cut
down the work very significantly.
I'm certainly enjoying the challenge of getting the lawns into
shape. It may not be a passion of mine but I do enjoy wandering
across a summer lawn barefoot, not that that's how I spend my
summers at Allt-y-bela of course! I'm looking forward to seeing the
difference the work put in now will make next year. The garden at
Allt-y-bela is beginning to mature and settle now and as the years
go by I hope that our efforts and continued hard work will pay
dividends for many years to come.
Words: Steve Lannin, Head Gardener at Allt-y-bela
Photographs: Britt Willoughby Dyer
