NEW YEAR,FRESH START

Start the year off right with a gorgeous garden makeover!

A La Nina Summer

What does this mean?

• Increased rainfall across much of Australia

• Cooler daytime temperatures (south of the tropics)

• Warmer overnight temperatures (in the north)

• Shift in temperature extremes

• Decreased frost risk

• Greater tropical cyclone numbers

• Earlier monsoon onset
  

So, with all this rainfall happening, how does it impact your lawn?

Leaf/crown issues (above ground)

Thanks to an increase in leaf wetness, from both regular rain as well as poor drying conditions, this makes your lawn significantly more susceptible to leaf spot diseases like Dreschlera, Bipolaris and Dollar spot. In and around the leaf make conditions extremely favourable for disease development.

Soil issues (below ground)

Firstly, the water helps smaller particles in your soil move through and fill into pore spaces, resulting in a more compacted soil. Don’t even get us started on what happens when you drive on a wet lawn, just don’t do it!

Secondly, the water enters the soil and starts to fill up all the available pore spaces. In a healthy soil these spaces are usually a mix of water and oxygen but when the soil is waterlogged there’s no room for oxygen. The roots don’t like this and this puts the plant under serious stress. Again, a precursor to disease.

Thirdly, nutrients are stripped from the soil, nutrients which are readily available when dissolved in water are quick to be leached (removed) from the soil.

Fourthly, cloud cover. While we will get some warm days the amount of cloud cover is seriously going to impact the amount of sun your lawn gets. It’s not as bad as growing in shade, but it’s certainly not getting its full daily dose.

And lastly, water moving across the surface is likely to bring weed seed from neighbours with a little less diligence when caring for their lawn.

What you can do?

• Mow while dry with sharp blades

• Aerate if soil is waterlogged or heavy rain periods expected

• Monitor for disease, ask for advice on spraying fungicides

Better yet, contact us!

“We might think that we are nurturing our garden, but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us“

- Jenny Uglow

We hope you got to enjoy a nice break with family, friends or just relaxing in the garden!

Thanks for reading and being part of the Floraculture journey in 2022.

Ché, Amy and the team at Floraculture.