What's new, what's growing, what we're learning. Updates, guides and stories for people who take their garden seriously.
Under the canopy the grass thins out and then the moss arrives. Why shortage of light, root competition and throughfall work together, which mixture with supina bluegrass and red fescue actually holds, how to mow at 7 to 8 cm and feed less, and where the honest limit sits beyond which Waldsteinia, hostas and bark mulch are the better answer.
Grasses plus low, tread tolerant flowers: white clover, daisies, creeping thyme, selfheal. Four to six cuts a year at 6 to 8 cm, no feed, no scarifying. How to sow a flowering lawn from scratch or overseed it into the sward you already have.
Two gardens, the same lawn, a completely different impression: the difference is the last five centimetres at the edge. How to cut the edge with a half moon iron or a spade, what shears and trimmers do in between, and why a mowing edge laid flush with the lawn abolishes the trimming altogether. With prices and service life for metal, plastic, pavers, brick and timber.
A rotary mower strikes, a cylinder mower shears. What the technology does to the finish, which drive suits which lawn, why a robot mower belongs in daylight, and when you are actually allowed to mow in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Moss is an indicator plant, not an invader. It points to compacted soil, shade, an acid pH or a shortage of nitrogen. How to measure the cause instead of guessing it, why lime only goes down after a test, and what the plan across a year looks like.
From mid September · CW 38 what your lawn needs is potassium, not fast-acting nitrogen. Add the last cut to 4 to 5 cm between CW 44 and CW 46 and clear the leaves regularly. That is how the sward gets through winter without snow mould and moss.
Clover shows a nitrogen shortage, dandelion shows gaps and compaction. How feeding, cutting height, a weeding tool and overseeding put the grasses back in front, with no chemicals involved.
Cutting too short is the most common lawn mistake. Why grass tolerates mowing at all, how the one-third rule works in practice, which cutting height suits which patch, why a sharp blade spares the grass and what to do with the clippings.
Mow higher, water rarely but deeply, and sit out the rest: how your lawn survives the summer heat, how to tell whether it is only sleeping, and what to leave well alone until the late summer oversow.
