Aftercare Services

We only use organic fertilisers.

Our products are from reputable suppliers, with top range seed and top-dressing.

Get in touch regarding your requirements. Your grass will love it and will provide the best chance to fight disease from warm, wet winters. Pencil-tining reduces the compaction in the soil to allow your roots to grow deeper into the soil and in turn make it nice and strong and health. 

All products are able to buy from us to maintain your lawn yourself. If you need information, please call 01590 626523

Its important to feed and weed your lawn 2 to 3 times a year. This will keep your lawn strong, healthy and looking good. 

Regular lawn treatments stops moss and weed problems from over taking your grass and helps it to recover from general wear and tear.

We have been at The Hare & Hounds for over 20 years and have always had a problem with maintaining our lawn especially in the hot summers and with the increased footfall.

2 years ago, we enlisted New Forest Turf Supplies Ltd to help us with our lawn. They did a complete strip, topsoil, fertilise and then a re-turf of the whole lawn. This initial project had an instant effect and the lawn looked great. Since then, they have maintained the lawn through periodic fertilising, seeding and adding topsoil to worn areas when necessary. This maintenance programme has ensured that our original investment of returfing the lawn was not wasted. 

The result is that we now a have a well-kept, green and hard-wearing lawn - which has even managed to survive one of the hottest summers on record. I would not hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

Brendan Treacey

Hare & Hounds, Sway

• Water your turf frequently until it is established in dry weather
• Mow the newly laid lawn 3 weeks after installation.
• Mow the turf on a high setting first, and reduce the setting each time. You do not need to go lower than the mid setting if you mow regularly.
• Don't use a 'weed and feed' fertiliser until the roots are well established. The 'weed' control element of the application can kill the turf.
• The key to fertiliser application is 'little and often'.
• In shady areas grow the grass longer and keep watered.

Water

The single most important item for your lawn is water. Your new turf must be kept moist at all times. If it is allowed to dry out it can easily die.

Your new lawn is susceptible to drought until the roots become established. 

In dry weather, the turf must be watered. Little and often is the key and initially for the first week your turf may need watering twice a day.

Lift the comers of the turf to check that it is being kept sufficiently moist.

Try to avoid over watering, and flooding of the turf.  Flooding and over-saturation creates anaerobic conditions and will reduce root growth. 

Duncan gives the best advice:

 'Every sod should be moist, to the point the ground underneath is wet, but not sodden!'

Mowing 

Your lawn can get conditioned to the length that you keep them, so letting the grass get too long before you mow it will reduce the quality and stress it.

The ideal height to start with is 25mm (1 inch), which will be the ideal height for maximum wear and drought tolerance. 

If you require a shorter lawn the mowing height should be reduced gradually.

Mowing regularly at the same height will ensure a healthy lawn 

 We offer a First Cut Professional Mow Service with our Head Green Keeper 

Should I remove grass clippings?
This keeps the lawn looking tidy, but if you leave the clippings on they will feed the lawn and the requirement for fertilisers will be reduced.

 If you leave the clippings on the lawn, regular mowing will ensure that clippings don't block the grass and break
down/rot quickly.

Fertilising 

 Ideally fertilisers should be applied lightly and frequently. 

The main elements of fertilisers are Iron (Fe), Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potash (K).

Iron helps to strengthen the lawn, and fight fungal disease

Nitrogen enhances top growth and greenness, and should only be applied during the growing season. 

Phosphorus and Potash develop root growth and new shoots, making the grass thicker and more resilient to climatic conditions and resistant to disease.

P&K are normally the base of autumn fertilisers and applied in the Autumn. Most fertilizers contain a balance of these elements.

When you buy a fertiliser, look for the content of these elements on the bag. 

We recommend fertilising 3 times a year to keep your lawn healthy, and to 

out-compete disease, and infestations of lawn eating bugs.

Scarifying 

Scarifying can remove moss and thatch build up. Thatch is a mat of dead fibres that develops as the turf ages.

Vertical mowing/scarifying can be done periodically during the summer, but avoid doing it in periods of drought as it reduces the grass drought tolerance.

The best time for vertical mowing is in the Autumn when the knives can be set deeper, and the lawn can be thoroughly scarified.

Aeration 

Ground can get compacted over time, and with places of heavy footfall such as sport pitches the ground get so compacted the grass sword and roots find it hard grow. This will then event in water clogging and reduce grass coverage. Aeration by means of 'spiking' and 'slitting' relieves compaction and aerates the soil, promoting root development and stronger grass.