Lawn symptoms and cures.

Lawn problems:

Worm casts
A problem in the autumn which shouldn’t be ignored. When squashed, the casts make ideal seed beds for weed seeds. When they appear, let them fully dry and then sweep them away with a stiff broom brush before mowing.


Lawn thatch
Leaving clippings on the grass will gradually build thatch – a layer of dead organic matter at soil level. Thatch prevents water getting through and increases the likelihood of disease. Rake out thatch in September or early spring with a garden rake or scarifier. To prevent it coming back, collect the grass clippings if your mower has a grass box, or rake up all clippings after each mowing.


Pale grass
This is a symptom of malnutrition or a alck of feeding. Without the correct balanced diet, the lawn will stay weak and pale as it has used up available nutrients in the soil. Supplementary feeding with nutrient-rich lawn treatments is the only way to replace these lost foods. Simply watering will not solve this problem.


Scalped patches
This problem results from mowing the grass too short. Shaving the lawn doesn’t save time and often leaves bare patches vulnerable to invasion by weeds and moss. Fill in any obvious hollows with Enriched Lawn Soil and cut the grass to a minimum of a couple of centimetres in length.
Bald patches can be reseeded.

Seasonal lawn care made easy.

Seasonal lawn care, watering and cutting tips.

Summertime Care:

Watering
The most important thing we can do is give it a much deserved drink. Water at times when the moisture is likely to soak in rather than evaporate, early morning or late evening is the best. Try to avoid giving your lawn a light sprinkling every day, as this can cause the roots to grow shallow and be prone to drying out. When it’s dry, a good soaking once or twice a week is much more beneficial for your lawn.
It’s worth noting that a well fed and maintained lawn will have a stronger and deeper root system, enabling it to withstand and recover from long dry periods.

Mowing
Try to mow your lawn at least once a week, keeping the height of the grass to about 1 inch. Ensure all clippings are collected and composted, but avoid cutting too short as this will encourage weeds and moss to enter your lawn. In really hot, dry weather your lawn will become stressed and it is advisable to reduce the amount of mowing, and allow your grass to grow longer.


Springtime Care:

A simple lawn care programme will give you a lawn to be proud of, keep it in perfect condition and make friends and neighbours green with envy.
The secrets of success to a great looking lawn are:
Regular and correct mowing
Feeding with a spring and summer lawn fertiliser
Treating weeds and moss
Dealing with bare patches

Mowing
The most important lawn care job for a fantastic lawn is correct and regular mowing. You need to cut the grass whenever it is growing – which is likely to be weekly or even more frequently as the weather warms up in spring.
The aim should be to keep it at the same height all through spring. For most lawns this should be about 2.5-4cm (1-1.5in) high. For lawns that take a lot of wear and tear the height is better raised to 5cm (2in). For very shaded areas, mow at a height of 7.5cm (3in).
Mowing too short and, as a consequence weakening the grass, is the quickest and easiest way of allowing weeds and moss to become established and spoiling the lawn.


Autumn Care:

Keep the surface clear
If fallen leaves are a problem in your garden try to remove them from the lawn as regularly as possible. If you wait until all the leaves have dropped, your grass will be fighting for survival under a cold damp blanket of moist, rotting vegetation. Try to do the job at least weekly throughout autumn to avoid any problems of disease. A rake, besom broom or mechanical collector will help you collect the leaves for your compost heap. Alternatively choose a lawn mower, which will do the job quickly and easily.
Rake the surface

If you have left the grass box off the mower during the summer or you have a hover machine which doesn’t collect the grass cuttings, then a layer of thatch will have formed on the soil surface. Not only does this layer prevent rain water getting through but it prevents grass plants from spreading and encourages diseases.
There are plenty of tools which can be used to remove this thatch – a spring-tine rake, ordinary garden rake or a mechanical raker. A couple of weeks before you carry out this scarifying, check for moss invasion and treat this with a product that contains a mosskiller such as Autumn 2 in 1. If you don’t treat the moss with a suitable mosskiller before raking it out, you may inadvertently spread the spores around the lawn and make the problem worse.
Help the water penetrate

Compaction is one of the biggest problems with lawns. But aeration in autumn will quickly help to strengthen the grass by improving drainage. Drive a fork or other spiked instrument into the top few inches of soil will allow rain and air to penetrate more deeply and at the same time relieve any compaction.
Without help, vital rainwater may run off a dry lawn and be wasted. A hollow-tine fork is ideal for the job because it takes out several plugs of earth to a depth of about four inches. These wide air channels not only relieve the packed-down effect created by pathway walking or children’s feet playing, but also aerates the soil. September is the best time to practice this deep spiking, followed in the spring with shallow pricking with a slitter aerator or solid-tine aerator.


Watering lawns:

Most lawns need regular rain to replace the moisture that grass draws from the soil. Grass can survive a couple of weeks without rain, but after this period you will notice symptoms of stress. Grass may turn silvery blue and turf will look flat as the grass wilts and loses its natural springy nature.
To avoid these problems, here’s what to do…

Prick the surface.
If the lawn is baked hard then water will tend to run off the surface rather than soak into the soil. To prevent this from happening prick the surface all over with a garden fork.

Keep to the law
Hose pipe bans restrict watering potential, even if you are not metered. Stay within the law as fines can be heavy. Resourceful gardeners have water butts to store rain water and use bath water and other waste sources to keep lawns looking good.

Water thoroughly.
During a drought water the lawn thoroughly once a week rather than giving light sprinklings every day. Water at a cool time of the day, either late at night or early morning.

Adding nutrients while watering.
lawn care products that feed, weed or kill moss can be added to your watering can and applied at the same time as you water your lawn. As they are diluted with water.

Lawns are one of the most intensive and time consuming areas of maintenance in a garden, but the rewards of a well kept lawn are great. In the summer months healthy grass grows vigorously and will need cutting at least once a week, and care must be taken not to cut the length too short. Following the simple rules below can help bring out the best in your lawn and help keep work to a minimum.

Cut regularly.
Cut the grass as often as you are able to. Mowing encourages thicker growth, the development of fine grasses, eliminates coarse grasses, and deters flowering and seeding of weeds. The chart below is a good indication of the schedule of grass cutting you should adhere to under normal seasonal conditions.
Month Recommended Mowing Frequency
March Every 2 weeks
April Every 10 days
May – August At least once a week
September to October Every 10 days
November to December Top off if weather is mild

Adjust the height.
Never give the lawn a close shave. It should be long enough to remain healthy but short enough to be visually pleasing. Here are some optimum heights for different lawn types. Do not mow more than a third of the height of the grass in one cut.
Lawn type Early spring, autumn, periods of drought Late spring and summer
Multi Purpose Lawn
3cm (1.5”)
2.5cm (1.0”)
Ornamental Lawn
2cm (0.75”)
1.5cm (0.5”)

Trim the edges.
Trimming around the lawn gives a sharp edge that is very pleasing to the eye. You can buy a half moon edging iron that should only be used once or twice a year. At other times use long-handled edging shears to maintain a neat appearance every time you mow.

Sharpen the blades.
Have the blades of your mower sharpened at least once a year. Blunt mower blades are very damaging to your lawn because they rip the grass instead of cutting it. This results in blades of grass that turn white at the tips and become more prone to lawn diseases.

Stain block and Flashing.

Stain block and flashing

Always ensure the source of the leak is fixed and that you allow time for the water to dry out before decorating.
Some stains may need a second coat of stain block, allow to dry between coats.
Allow the stain block to dry fully before decorating.

Stain blockers, sometimes referred to as “stain kill” primers, do a great job in sealing off stains. Some work better than others. The solvent primers form tighter films, and usually work better than their latex counterparts for most stains.

Oil is probably the next best stain blocker. The biggest problem with the oil stain blockers is the very strong odor they omit. You must ventilate the area well during and after use, or you will be badly affected by the fumes.

Waterbased stain blockers work on many stains, and are a suitable option, when they can be used. They don’t work well on water stains, or water soluble stains. Their strength is the water clean up, and far, far less odor they omit. Waterbased stain blockers are nevertheless good sealers, where a bleeding stain is not the problem.

When you have a stain, it is best to apply two coats of stain blocker to be sure that the stain will not migrate partially through the first coat. Usually, two coats of the right stain blocker will suffice.


Flashing:
the problem with spot priming with stain blockers is It depends on the lighting in the room and where the spot priming will occur, but usually you can’t get away with spot priming with a stain block primer. The primed spots will look whiter and / or shinier than the rest of the wall/ceiling., this is known as “flashing”.

How to avoid flashing
First, don’t use a stain blocking primer if you don’t need to block a stain. PVA primers work great for a cheap first coat over properly prepared surfaces. PVA primers as a rule are not problematic in terms of flashing. They are our primer of choice over drywall repairs and spackled areas because they are not prone to flashing problems.

Total priming is the antidote to flashing
If you need to use a stain blocker to block out a stain, or a bonding primer (usually these are stain blockers too, but not always), then you will have to prime the area in total, or at least from breaking point to breaking point.

Since two coats of stain blocker is the best prescription for most stains, it is best to spot prime the stain first, then prime the whole wall or ceiling (or room if you have multiple stains). This will serve two purposes: by blocking out the stain AND by evening out the sealed area to prevent any spot flashing.

You can usually use a waterbased stain blocker for the total primer. If you seal the stain in first with an oil based stain blocker you can do the total priming over the top with a latex stain blocking primer / sealer. This allows you to use a low odor product over the large area, making the total priming less “odiferous“.

You may tint the total prime coat to match the finish paint color (or gray for deep tones) to act as a first coat. Generally, for pastels and off whites, you will use a 50% formula of the finish paint color into the primer to arrive at a pretty good match to the finish paint color. Deep tones will require a shade of gray instead of a color match for good hiding (you will not be able to tint a deep tone from a white primer - ).

Fitting new skirting boards

Fitting new skirting board takes longer than you would think, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a very rewarding job, and not too tricky either.
Skirting boards are both decorative and practical. They hide the often untidy junction between wall and floor with a smart wooden moulding, and soak up the inevitable knocks from shoes, vacuum cleaners and children’s toys.

There are lots of different styles of boards available, ranging from the simple chamfer-topped variety through to multi-faceted mouldings that are a feature in their own right. Your local timber yard will stock a wide range of skirting, but if you want something a bit different, rummaging around at an architectural salvage outlet can be very rewarding. Wherever you buy your skirting board from, check that it is straight, undamaged and as free of knot holes as possible.

If you are planning to lay a new wooden or tiled floor, do this before you fit the skirting boards for the neatest finish. If you’re carpeting, fit the skirting boards first. Carpet fitters like to have a clean, straight edge to work to and in the future you won’t have to tear the skirting boards off if you want to change the carpet.

Steps-by-step guide to fitting new skirting board

Measuring up:
First, you’ll need to know how big your room is. Measure the total length along the wall that the skirting board will cover, and add 20%, just to make sure.
Buying Materials:
For fitting skirting board to brick and plaster walls you’ll need:
Enough lengths of skirting board for the size you measured in the beginning. Skirting board usually comes in lengths of 2.4m
Wood primer paint
Top coat paint
Decorator’s Caulk (and a cartridge gun for it)
Tape measure
A medium sized paint brush
Brush cleaner
Medium tooth hand saw
Skirting board mitre block
Countersink (like a drill bit, but cone shaped)
4mm twist drill bit
6mm (red) wall plugs (about 1 for every meter of skirting)
6mm masonry drill bit (check wall plug for exact size required)
Enough 4x50mm countersunk screws (1 or 2 for every meter of skirting)
A small hand drill ideally with hammer action
Screwdriver to fit the screws
Painting skirting board

If you have time for paint to dry before you start fitting, it’s much easier to paint skirting board before you fit it. However you’ll still need to touch up the paintwork here and there after fitting. Rest the skirting board on some thin pieces of wood before you start, preferably on a couple of small work benches or something similar. If you rest the skirting on old newspaper, the newspaper will stick to the paint. Not a good thing!
Start with a single coat of good wood primer. Once dry, follow this with a couple of coats of topcoat in your chosen colour. Oil-based gloss topcoats can take a week to thoroughly dry, so I hope you’ve found somewhere for it out of the way, and protected from the rain! Water based gloss paints dry much faster, but the quality of finish is not as "glossy".

Cutting to size:
"Measure twice, cut once" as they say!
Where skirting board joins together at a 90° corner, they should be cut at 45° each, as shown below. It’s far too easy to cut the corners the wrong way around, so sketch out how you plan to fit the skirting board, and measure the lengths you need first.
Using a mitre block is a great way to ensure your cuts are exactly 45°. Accuracy is key, and you'll usually find a simple mitre block can offer greater accuracy than an electric mitre saw.

Fitting:
Skirting board should be attached firmly to the wall. If you have wood flooring, it’s usually fitted on top, but for carpets, fit the skirting first, and lay the carpet to meet the skirting board. If you’re plastering, you should do this before fitting the skirting.
Skirting board can be fixed to the wall using glue, nails, or screws. Glue is quick and simple, but you may find it difficult to press the board really close to the wall, thus leaving big gaps to fill. Nails are good if you have something wooden to attach the board to, but are useless for attaching to plasterwork.
If you’re attaching the board to a plastered or brick surface, first drill 4mm holes in the board where you want to attach the screws. These should be about half way up the board, and in a line along the board, not more than 1m apart. Each section should be held by at least two screws, but if your wall is none too straight you may want to put the screws closer together to pull the skirting against the wall.
Use a countersink to ensure that the screw head will be flush with the surface of the board when it’s attached, then hold the skirting board up to the wall, and mark through the holes with a screw or the drill bit to pinpoint where you need to drill into the wall.
Now use the 6mm masonry bit in a hammer action drill to make a hole to the depth that the screws extends out of the skirting board. In each hole fit a wall plug, then screw the board in place.
When all the skirting is in place, use decorator’s caulk to fill the gaps, then paint over the caulk and screw heads to leave a neat finish, and beautiful new skirting board!

Different types of weed control.

The different types of weed control can be grouped into three categories: mechanical, organic and chemical. Mechanical weed control includes simply pulling the weeds out by the root as they emerge. The drawbacks to this type of weed control are that the weed may not be completely removed, other plants may be uprooted in the process, and neighboring root systems may be damaged. Another type of mechanical weed control involves simply spacing plants close together in order to crowd out unwanted weeds. Flaming is a non-chemical method of weed control, which employs the use of a propane torch to burn weeds on driveways and sidewalks.

Some gardeners prefer a more organic approach to weed control. Mulch is a favorite type of weed control, and very effective. It deprives the weeds of much needed light. Using layers of newspaper or landscape fabric under the mulch boosts its effectiveness. Other non-toxic types of weed control include salt, vinegar, boiling water, dish washing soap and alcohol. While these may kill existing weeds temporarily, they rarely solve a long term weed problem.

The third type of weed control is chemical, which involves the use of herbicides to kill or prevent weed growth. Because many herbicides are specially formulated for specific types of weeds, a gardener must understand the type of weed he is facing. Just like plants, weeds come in annual, biennial and perennial forms. Different types of herbicides include pre-emergence, post-emergence and spot treatments.

Types of landscaping fabrics:
Gardeners often use landscape fabric as a mulch to keep the soil moist, to allow air to flow in and out of the garden beds, and to keep the weeds in check. Landscape fabric or geotextile is also a simple base for bark mulch. Thick landscape fabrics often cost more but may last for a decade or more, while thin landscape fabrics may only last for a few seasons.
Landscape fabrics, also called geotextiles, are used as weed barriers and erosion control. They are usually composed of a synthetic such as polypropylene, and can be perforated, woven, nonwoven or spun-bonded. It is important to understand the characteristics and limitations of landscape fabric before choosing to use or not use it for a project.

Perforated Landscape Fabric:
Perforated landscape fabric has small holes. The size of the holes determines how much air and water flow through the fabric. Perforated fabrics form a lightweight barrier in garden beds.

Woven Landscape Fabric:
Woven landscape fabric is woven in a criss-cross pattern. This landscape fabric is dense and stops the sun from reaching weeds under the fabric. This prevents the weeds from germinating. Of course, other plants will not germinate either, so you will need to have holes in the fabric for your existing plants.

Non-woven Landscape Fabric:
Needle-punched or non-woven landscape fabric is made for the long term. It is a good liner for areas where you are constructing a small wetland and want to contain water or where you want to contain soil over many years. Non-woven landscape fabric is very durable and will not tear.

Spun-bonded Landscape Fabric:
Spun-bonded landscape fabric looks like a spider's web and is very hard to tear. This makes it a good choice for areas where tree roots might poke through or where animals might tear at the fabric. It is also excellent for lining pathways. Air and water move easily through this fabric.

Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using landscape fabrics:

On the positive side, landscape fabrics
permit air and water movement into the soil;
help control weeds; and
help maintain even soil temperatures.

Landscape fabrics are practical and may be used for large areas such as:
Weeds in Garden Landscapes, such as shrub and ornamental flower beds where there is definite spacing between plants - for instance, ornamental grasses, daylilies and Rudbeckia that are not expected to spread;
around trees;
under stone sidewalks;
under decks;
behind retaining walls; and
under large expanses of stone and mulch-decorated natural areas where the intention is to achieve a "Japanese garden sort of look."

On the negative side,
they are expensive as compared to sheet plastic (black plastic) mulch;
photo-degrade (break down in the presence of UV light);
usually need mulch cover to slow photo-degradation and improve appearance of fabric-covered areas; only last approximately 5 years
The worst aspect of using landscape fabric is forgetting that it is only a barrier that prevents germinating weed seeds from emerging from soil into landscaped areas. Seeds will land and germinate in both organic (wood chips) and inorganic (stones) mulches covering the fabric. Fine feeder roots from these germinating seeds easily penetrate these porous fabrics. The unpleasant result of neglecting to remove volunteer seedlings is a weed / mulch / landscape fabric sandwich firmly attached to underlying soil.

An often-overlooked characteristic of landscape fabrics is that they are effective for only about five years before breaking down and needing replacement. In addition, mulch settles and in situations like on slopes, this settling causes shift and sometimes movement of mulch leaving large patches of fabric showing. Landscape fabrics are not an "install once and forget" method of landscape maintenance.

However, when used properly, there is definitely an acceptable benefit for using these fabrics in landscape maintenance. So much so, that each year more types and sources become available in both commercial and precut residential sizes.

How to fix fence posts

Our preferred method of Fixing fence posts in our experience is NOT to use met spikes as they often spin as they are driven into the ground. If they hit a stone or rock they tend to twist. Our preferred method is to dig a hole and use post crete to fix the post securely in place. Post crete goes hard within 10 – 15 minutes and gives you a straight sturdy post.
There are some occasions when concreting is not an option, for example when the neighbours patio is right on the boundary. It might not even be a fence post you wish to secure maybe a Gazebo or Pergola needs posts near paving or boundaries. In these circumstances you could use spikes which are simply driven into the ground with a sledge hammer but it is really advisable to put a driving block into the fence post spike first. This allows you to hit the spike as firmly as you like without bending the sides of the post holder.
On a concrete surface that you do not wish to break up, we suggest you bolt it down using Rawl bolts which are placed into holes drilled into the concrete and then tightened. As the head of the bolt is tightened the bottom sheath expands, gripping the concrete.

Can I use exterior paint inside my house?

Can I use exterior paint inside my house?

There are several reasons why you should not use exterior paint indoors.

First, exterior paints contain mildew inhibitors. They used to use mercury;
I'm not sure if they still do. But in any event, you DON'T want these
chemicals outgassing into your house. Knowing that interior surfaces can have the same problems as exterior surfaces, for example moisture in your bathroom or heat in your kitchen, you may want to turn towards an exterior paint to solve the problem because of its wonderful benefits of withstanding the elements, but this isn't a good solution. In fact, an exterior paint can cause more harm than good by using it indoors because of the VOC's (Volatile Organic Compounds), or what's commonly referred to as paint fumes that it gives off.

Second, exterior paints are designed to "chalk" as they weather. This is
definitely undesirable inside your house.

Third, exterior paints are formulated to be more flexible than interior
paints, because they are subjected to a much wider range of temperatures. This means that they don't dry as hard which means they'll always be a bit soft
or sticky.

It might seem so, but that's not the way it is. A good-quality interior latex
paint is plenty good enough for your bathroom. Use a bathroom / kitchen paint for these areas to stop mildew forming.

If you have mistakenly used exterior paint inside, there are specific things you must do before you re-paint an interior surface that was already painted with an exterior paint. A paint specialist can help, but it is usually recommended to remove as much of the old paint as possible, sand the surface, wash and dry the surface, and then apply a stain-blocking primer to the walls like KILZ before you paint. This type of primer will put a barrier between the old paint and the new paint.

Remember that an exterior paint is made to withstand the elements because the weather can cause many problems if the paint's viscosity isn't up to par. The sun can cause the color to fade, and the rain and snow can cause moisture buildup which may lead to cracking, peeling, and mold and mildew problems