The mixture of sunshine and rainfall means grass is back to growing at a rapid pace - as are the unwanted by-products like weeds and moss.However “blanket bombing” your entire lawn with harmful and damaging chemicals is never a good idea, warns gardening expert Peter Dowdall.
Speaking to RSVP, Peter explained: “It’s important to remember that a ‘perfect lawn’ isn’t one size fits all. Your lawn is individual and it says a lot about you as a person “All weed killers are very damaging in terms of biodiversity so they’re not something that I would use or recommend at all. “There’s a lot of products out there that are called ‘Lawn feed and weed’, that just blanket bomb the whole lawn with a weed killer that’s not necessary in most of the lawn and it’s just damaging the soil and the insects and the ecosystem as a whole.Instead, Peter recommends using an environmentally safe product that will do the job without harming the soil that feeds wildlife.
“The most common lawn problem in Ireland, due to our warm damp climate, is moss. I prefer a back-to-basics approach on moss. There’s an Irish environmentally sound product called Lawn Gold that creates the optimum conditions for grass growth. Any moss in the lawn will simply turn to dust”.“For people who don’t want weeds, the best thing you can do is get out there with a hand trowel and remove them by hand.