Grass is the poor relation in many gardens. Whereas flowers, shrubs and vegetables are the immediate and obvious targets for attention how many of us effectively neglect our humble grass?

And yet - no part of the garden receives more use. When we sit in our garden, we sit on our grass. When the kids are out in the sunshine, playing football - it is the grass on which they run.

And like all plants, grass is subject to wear and tear. It needs nutrients, light, water and all those things we often lavish on other parts of our garden. In this page, I hope to share with you some of the techniques necessary to maintain the perfect lawn

When we think of lawn maintenance - the first (and often only!) thing that might spring to mind is mowing. Unkempt straggly grass is generally considered to be less pleasant to look at and sit on then neat, manicured grass. The main tool in our gardening armoury to achieve this look is mowing. Mowing is a generally simple process, but to get the best from your grass, here are a few tips for expert level mowing techniques.

Setting The Right Height

Although you can cut your turf as long or as short as your aesthetic preference determines, your turf will actually adapt to the height to which it is cut. This means that leaving your turf to grow unchecked or cutting it too dramatically can actually harm (or even kill) the blades of grass.

However! It is recommended for most grass species that you do not cut your grass to a height of under an inch or so (2.5cm). Under this height, the grass will not have sufficient surface area to absorb the sunlight it needs to flourish and prosper. By exposing the tender new growths close to the root to direct sunlight, you also run the risk of your turf becoming scorched.

As a guideline, it is also worth not cutting the grass by more than a third of its length at any one time. If you wish your turf to be cropped dramatically closer than its current length, it is advisable to do it via stages. With each mowing, reducing the height of the blade to avoid trauma for the plants.

How Often?

The frequency with which you mow your lawn will change throughout the course of the year. In winter months, the growth of your turf will generally be so slow as to warrant leaving mowing altogether. At times such as spring when growth is at its fastest, you may wish to mow every week or every fortnight. In fact, if you are really insistent on maintaining a certain length, even daily mowing will do no harm whatsoever.

Clippings

Although most people prefer to gather their clippings up for aesthetic reasons, there is no harm in leaving them on your lawn. In many ways it is actually preferable for the health of your lawn to leave them. As the mown blades decay, they form a natural fertiliser and source of food for the living grass.

Like all plants (with the honorable exception of things like cacti!) your grass needs regular watering in order to thrive and survive. Typically, betwen October and May gardens in the UK will receive enough rainfall to make further watering unneccessary. Between June and September however, your lawn should be watered once a week.

If the summer is hot and dry enough to warrant a hosepipe ban then you will find that your turf changes in colour the longer the dry spell lasts. The fresh, green tones you are accustomed to will gradually be supplanted by browns and yellows as the grass stops producing chlorophyll in order to conserve its energy. It may be tempting to panic and perhaps sneak out into the garden for a little midnight watering, but unless the heatwave reaches very severe lengths then the colour of your turf should return once the rains return.

Should your lawn be subject to flooding (as much of the UK was during the long, rainy autumn of '07) then the basic message is the same: "Don't panic!!" Grass is actually capable of growing underwater for some time - and flooding is generally short-lived and therefore unlikely to cause any harm. After the floodwaters have receded you should naturally let your garden dry before considering returning to your normal watering patterns.