AAA Lawn ServicesAdelaide Lawn Mowing & Lawn Care Programs
About AAA
AAA Lawn Services
Need your Lawns Maintained? Don’t have the time, tools or expertise to do it yourself.
Whether you are after some interim maintenance while you’re away on holidays, or more regular lawn-maintenance.
Our team are all fully trained, insured and police checked, so your lawn and your property are in safe hands. AAA can also provide advice and assistance for longer-term, seasonal lawn care including weeding and pest control, fertilizing, soil management, aeration, coring, through to turf laying and repair.
You will see the difference with professional lawn cut provides with expert trimming and edging of entire lawn area, around trees and garden features.
For larger properties, we offer ride-on lawn mowing services and grass slashing for rural and industrial areas.
You know that feeling when you look out the window and see overgrown lawn that resembles a jungle…It’s enough to make you close the curtain and walk away!
Not any more…consider your long lawns our opportunity to transform!
Your lawn plays an essential role in the exterior beauty of your home, so its maintenance is important.
Whether it’s weekly, fortnightly, monthly or once off lawn mowing that you require, you will receive our outstanding level of service
AAA is made up of passionate lawn care professionals with a decade of experience behind us.
Most lawn experts agree that a majority of our lawn care problems are a result of not mowing at the proper height and not keeping lawn mower blades sharpened throughout the mowing season. Each type of lawn grass has its specific height for optimum performance. Mowing to keep the grass at its best growing height will increase your lawn’s density and reduce problems.
No matter what kind of lawn you have, there is a simple “rule of thumb” to follow when mowing. Never remove more than one-third of the leaf surface each time you mow. Leaf surface or cutting height refers to the length of grass above the soil. Cutting below the optimum height impedes root development, which is key to having a dense stand of grass.
You can reduce the probability of ongoing lawn issues during the year by following a program of proper mowing, fertilisation, and watering. Professional lawn or turf managers have known how important these three factors are for years. All must work together to produce a quality lawn. Leaving one part out, or not following the plan to its optimal level will give you less than the desired results.
It is always important to realise that the success of anyone’s lawn depends on a team working together. Keeping the lawn mowed regularly at an optimum height for that particular grass species is one thing. Making sure the lawn gets enough water during the hot, dry summertime is another. Be sure you have proper drainage throughout the garden. Keep the lawn clear of debris such as heavy leaf cover or pine needles. Seed, aerate, dethatch and lime when necessary. Keep heavy traffic (children, pets, cars) off the lawn. Have a soil test done to determine the correct pH for your lawn. Even the simple act of being observant of the condition of your lawn can be very important.
Keep an eye out for little problems so that they can be taken care of before they become big problems. And as usual, don’t hesitate to call us if you see anything unusual in the lawn.
The aim of fertilising is to produce a vigorous sward of grass, or more properly, a grass that has a vigorous root system to at least 100mm in to the soil. The best strategy for turf nutrition is to supply the grass with adequate levels of all nutrients except nitrogen. Growth is then controlled by application of nitrogen in amounts just sufficient to provide an acceptable appearance.
High levels of phosphorus are unnecessary and waste money. More importantly it may cause iron deficiency and encourage the growth of weeds such as winter grass (Poa annua). Phosphorus stimulates grasses into producing seed – the last thing that is wanted in a lawn. Excessive phosphorus causes potassium imbalance and stunting of root growth. Fescues dislike quite small amounts of phosphorus and die out as the phosphorus level in the soil increases.
Potassium is an essential nutrient, valuable for turf because it toughens the leaves so that they are more wear and disease resistant. It promotes the storage of carbohydrates in the roots, and has an essential role in regulating water loss through transpiration. Extra potassium applied in autumn when the grass is going into dormancy will help it survive through winter and enhance its ability to grow quickly in spring.
Iron is the trace element most often in short supply in turf. Deficiencies are associated with high soil pH, excessive applications of phosphorus, waterlogging and excessive thatch.
Other trace elements needed by turf grasses are manganese, magnesium, and copper. Symptoms of deficiencies are reduced growth and paleness of the grass. The turf will look sparse and weak when the nutrient deficiencies are severe.
The goal of any fertilisation program is to provide the lawn with the nutrients it needs for optimum growth. The most accurate way to find out those needs is to have the soil tested. The soil is the conveyor of the nutrients to all the plants in your landscape
The best time to fertilise your lawn is when it’s actively growing and in need of nutrients. This means beginning the program about six weeks after spring green-up and stopping about one months before the first frost in early winter.
When the cool weather returns in autumn, the lawn should again be fertilised. A late autumn application has been shown to increase lawn quality the following spring. Fertiliser application dates and frequency are based primarily on which form of nitrogen the fertiliser contains. Those that have at least one-half of its nitrogen in slow-release form should be adequate for 6 to 8 weeks. If the lawn still has good colour and is growing well at the end of this period, then delay the next application a little longer.
When you’ve addressed some of the most common problem areas the next step is to give your lawn a bit of TLC to make it grow nice and lush.
Feed Your Lawn. Regular proper fertilizing – whether it’s with chemical, organic or liquid fertilizers – will give your lawn all the nutrients it needs to keep it healthy and in peak condition.
The best time to fertilize is when your lawn is actively growing which will be in the warmer months of spring to mid summer and even as late as autumn. Having said that you should nevertheless avoid fertilizing in hot weather and opt for early morning feeding. Most chemical fertilizers will also require watering in before and after so it doesn’t over-nourish and “burn” the lawn.
If your lawn is not responding to the fertilizer it is a good idea to check your soil with a pH testing kit to determine if your soil is too acidic or is lacking a certain nutrient. You can then address pH imbalances or nutrient deficiencies by applying a suitable fertilizer or additive to the grass.
A lawn can mean different things to different people. It may be a showpiece for your property, a foil for flowering shrubs and annuals, a piece of grass on which to sit, an area for children’s play,or just something to keep down the dust. Whatever your lawn means to you, you will need to spend time maintaining it. Even, if like most gardeners, you are content if your lawn grows reasonably well and is not too overrun with weeds.
If you want to go further and achieve the perfection of a velvety smooth, immaculate lawn, you will need to put in a great deal of time and effort.
Most weed problems arise from too close mowing or scalping the lawn. Weed infestation will also occur where grass is struggling under shade from trees or the variety of turf does not suit the climate.
It is better to water heavily and less often. Heavy, infrequent watering encourages deep rooting of grasses that are better able to withstand drought. Grass that is watered heavily every week or ten days will be much stronger and healthier than grass that is given a daily sprinkle. Lawns are sometimes killed with kindness by over enthusiastic watering. In an attempt to have the perfect emerald green lawn some people keep on watering and watering. You may get away with it on pure sand but otherwise the soil becomes waterlogged and the roots rot. To improve conditions you need to get the right balance of air and water in the soil by using a coring machine.
The warm-season grasses are much more efficient at using the water to make growth. Couch grass is more than twice as efficient at using water than perennial ryegrass, and nearly twice as efficient as tall fescue (Handreck and Black p294). The amount of water needed to maintain an acceptable turf of warm season grasses is about half that needed for tall fescues and other cool season grasses.
Overwatering and overfertilising with nitrogen-rich fertiliser coupled with infrequent mowing makes the lawn spongy. Thatch is a layer of dead grass that accumulates below the green tops and can prevent irrigation water from reaching the root zone either by becoming water repellent or by forming a dense mat. Thatch is definitely not beneficial to turf because
Sensible turf management can reduce the buildup of thatch by:
Buffalo, kikuyu, bent grass and couch hybrids such as Santa Ana are especially prone to thatching. Some may need to be dethatched each year using a scarifier or vertical mower. Scarifying is best carried out when the grass is capable of rapid recovery in late spring to mid-summer – October to January.
How long between mowing depends on the rate of growth, so that only one third of the grass is removed. This also depends on the kind of grass and its growth habit.
Bowling greens are cut daily !!! During the summer growing season, to encourage a prostrate habit, with many lateral shoots.
So, ideally some lawns need to be cut weekly during their active growing period, more often if the owner goes berserk with watering and fertilising, but generally, mowing every 7 to14 days is a reasonable compromise. As the grass lapses into winter dormancy, so the interval between cuts can be extended, but still apply the one third off criteria.
If the grass is too long at the next cut, and you remove more than a third, the amount of green foliage that photosynthesises plant food is severely reduced. During winter with fewer sunlight hours anyway, the plant is unable to cope, and the turf suffers.
If you cut so low that all the green growth is removed, the lawn has an overall yellow appearance and is dramatically stressed, finding it difficult to cope with low overnight ground temperatures. The grass in its weakened state is also susceptible to attack by various diseases.
If you set the mowing height high to compensate for less than optimal mowing frequency, then spongy or thatching of the turf is likely, which will require later scarifying, an additional expense.
How long between mowing also depends on the kind of grass. Different grasses should be cut at different heights. Lawn care should not be equated to rotary mowing of a green patch as low and as infrequently as possible. Together with excessive wear on the mower, this is the most damaging maintenance program possible.
The ultimate lawn care and mowing secret it comes down to simply one thing:
Keep the grass long and cut often.
In nature, animals that graze tend only to eat the grass tips, so that’s what grass is used to. Over-cutting, like over-grazing, can actually be a hindrance to the grass. It can put your lawn under extreme stress and over-cut grass will encourage bare patches where weeds will grow instead.
Longer grass promotes better root development, shades the ground, reduces evaporation and blocks the sun that weed seeds require to germinate.
So grass that is mowed and fertilized often and watered properly will produce healthier lawn with fewer weeds and problems- that’s a definite win-win for you and your lawn!
And, of course, if you don’t like mowing, or you don’t have the time, or you don’t know what might be wrong with your lawn or what to do, then the simplest solution is to let Fox Mowing look after your lawn for you.
For most of us, it’s the cheapest and most beneficial thing you can do to our lawn. However, watering is the most misunderstood factor in a lawn maintenance routine. The goal of irrigating your lawn is very simple: to replace the moisture that is being lost due to evaporation. Any more or any less will cause the lawn to suffer in times of stress. Generally, given our weather patterns, it is not necessary to irrigate the lawn on a regular basis until October or November.
How much?
The technique of determining how much to water your lawn is simple: Place a small rain gauge or jam tin on the lawn when your sprinkler is running and see how many minutes it takes to fill the gauge to a level of 25mm. Then, over a period of days, see how long it takes for the 25mm of water to evaporate out of the gauge. This will tell you when and how much to water. You may be surprised!
When?
The time of day makes a difference. One basic rule: water your lawn when the least amount of water will be lost to evaporation. Watering early in the morning before the heat of the day will make sure your water goes down to the roots instead of going up in vapour. Avoid watering during the middle of the day when the heat is highest.
How often?
A good soaking of water every few days is more useful than frequent light sprinkling. Avoid watering late in the day; leaves remain wet for hours during the night, increasing the possibility of germination of fungal spores. One to two waterings per week totalling 25mm are best. Frequent light waterings create shallow root systems which cannot sustain the plants during hot weather.
To find out how long to water, place 2 or 3 jam tins under the sprinkler or irrigation sprays. Determine the time it takes to put 25mm of water in each tin and from then on operate the sprinklers for that length of time for each watering.
Be sure to follow the “25 millimetre” guide described above. Frequent, but shallow, watering causes the grass to send roots up to the surface looking for water, where they will suffer more during hot spells. Water longer in each spot. Also be sure to water more along paths and kerbs. These areas dry out faster due to more heat build up.
Train your lawn to become more drought-tolerant. Forget about watering the lawn once a week (or every three or four days on sandy soil) regardless of whether the water is needed. Wait till the top few centimetres of soil is completely dry. This is easy to check with a garden trowel. At this stage, hold back on the water, check the blades of grass each day and wait until about one-third have started to wilt. Early next morning, give the area a good soaking. Repeat this checking performance but each time wait an extra day before watering.
Within a few weeks, the lawn will have developed a deeper, more extensive root system that is capable of absorbing moisture from well below the previous root zone.
By the end of summer, you should have extended the time between watering summer-active grasses, such as couch, buffalo and kikuyu, from once a week to every 10 to 14 days and possibly longer. Even some of the traditional but waterholic lawns, containing fescue, Kentucky bluegrass and ryegrass, can be trained to get by for three or four extra days between watering
Water Your Lawn. Like us, lawns prefer nice long showers! Unlike us, your lawn doesn’t have to shower every day. Less frequent, deep watering will encourage a stronger and deeper root system thus equipping the lawn to deal with dry periods. Watering, like most other lawn maintenance tasks, is best done in the early morning so as to avoid evaporation and you should only really water when the grass really needs it.
To make sure that you’re watering enough a simple test is to stick a screwdriver into the soil. If the moisture level is good then the screwdriver should easily go all the way in – to a depth of around 250mm. If you can only push it in a little without forcing it too hard then this shows that the soil is too compacted. Compacted soil won’t let enough water seeping down into the roots.
You’ll be one of the lucky few if you don’t have a problem with one of these! You will need to get on top of them as soon as possible or they will take over your lawn with a vengeance.
Pull larger weeds & their roots out by hand, or depending on their variety, spray them with a broad-leaved herbicide which targets general weeds such as bindi and clover but will not kill your lawn (lawns aren’t broad-leaved plants, so they’re immune to those specific herbicides).
Brown Spots It sounds like “brown patch” which is a lawn fungus that develops in the spring and early summer when there are warm nights and plenty of moisture. This combination is a perfect scenario for fungus to grow and spread. To remedy the situation, turn off the sprinklers until the rains subside. Apply a systemic fungicide to prevent a future outbreak. Also, mowing the lawn higher with a sharp blade and removing clippings can help with this situation.
Check the spots for signs of insect feeding.White larvae found in the soil beneath these dry patches could be grubs feeding on the roots. If no insects are found, excessive thatch build-up can prevent water from reaching the soil.
Most pest problems can be treated with an application of a lawn insecticide followed by a light watering in. This is best to be completed in late afternoon to early evening as insects are at their most active after dark.
Any time of year is a good time to aerate, but late summer and early autumn are the best times. Your grass is working hard during this time to develop a stronger root system and aeration aids in that process. If you aerate during this season you allow pockets of air to transmit water and nutrients to the root system. You want to encourage growth of the root system during autumn and early winter months. This will help ensure a thick, green, healthy turf in the spring.
Aerate Your Lawn. This will help water and fertilizer sink into the soil, improve oxygen circulation and it will also prevent weeds establishing in the compacted ground.
Thatch in turf is a layer of dead and living shoots, stems and roots that develops on the surface of a root zone below the green tops. Decomposing thatch that becomes mixed with soil particles is called “mat”.
Scarifying is the process of removing the build-up of thatch and excessive root zone in your lawn. It helps return a thick, spongy lawn back into a green, tight knit surface and is something you’ll need to do at least every 2 years.
How do you scarify?
Scarifying can be done from about October through to February for Kikuyu and Couch but the very best time of year to do it is October and November.Scaryfying is a multi staged process. It involves removing the thatch, then thinning out the rootzone. Sometimes, just removing the thatch is enough. Other times, you must thin out the rootzone as well.
Step 1: Remove the thatch
Removing the thatch is a process where you mow off the surface layer off of your lawn completely down to soil level. The more soil you can see when you’ve finished, the better job you’ve done. Rest assured, you can’t damage a couch or kikuyu lawn with a lawn mower! This process will completely remove the colour from your lawn – this is expected and normal. Don’t be surprised when you remove an enormous amount of thatch. Often, just scaping is enough to rejuviate your lawn. It will return your lawn to a low, flat surface making it easier to keep green. If you want to go the whole hog, proceed to step 2!
Step 2: Scarify the rootzone
This is where you use a specialised scarifying machine to thin out the root zone. Over time, the rootzone of couch and kikuyu lawns thickens up which can impede the life and health of the lawn. Sometimes called Verti mowing, this pruning and thinning out process removes dead and woody organic matter which re-invigorates the lawn and allows it to grow new, fresh stolons and rhizomes. Scarifyers have a series of verticle blade disks that cut down into the rootzone of your lawn
Step 3: Apply a wetting agent and then fertilise
After scarifying and or scapling, treat your lawn with some liquid wetting agent and fertiliser. Liquid wetting agent will ensure that water and nutrient penetrate evenly and deeply. This will help your lawn recover faster.
As I mentioned earlier, at this point your lawn will look pretty terrible. Don’t be alarmed at all by this – the warmer it is, the faster the lawn will grow back. After 2 weeks you’ll be able to see a green layer returning and typically after 4 weeks, your lawn will have completely recovered but with no thatch!