1 - Text customers the night before, where possible. 2 - Maintain 2 meter social distance with customers. 3 - Wear gloves, where needed. 4 - Cease work if we start to feel unwell. 5 - Record date and time of work to allow contract tracing. 6 - Request electronic payment as best practice. If the customer wants cash they can arrange a predetermined place to leave it before we turn up. How our customers can help us 1 - Please do not approach us while we are on the premises as we want to minimizse the risk of exposure for everyone. 2 - Please clear anything off the lawn to allow us to have as little contact as possible with any toys, bikes etc. 3 - Please lock your dogs away, as much as we love dogs, Level 3 is a no-pat time for our furry friends. 4 - Due to the amount of work we have & the fact that we'll be dealing with a lot of overgrown lawns, we'll be cutting high on our first visit. 5 - Please let us know if you are feeling sick or self isolating due to illness and/or being quarantined or have travelled in the last 21 days so we can reschedule after the self isolating period has ended. Thank you all for your understanding and we look forward to things getting back to normal as soon as possible Stuart and Donna Clifford

What is Aeration and how do I know if my lawn needs it? I will start with a short story that I think will illustrate the point well. I was talking to a customer the other day and he wanted to know why a strip on his new lawn was not growing well. It was sparse and unhealthy with a lot of dead material. He asked me if that could have been caused by the lawn being left so long before the first cut. Granted the lawn had been left too long before the first cut (he went overseas and came back to a jungle). That’s when he called me for the first cut. I told him that this would not have been connected and to me, it looked like a compaction issue. I saw lash grass next to the house and again next to the fence and guessed that both areas had been back filled with good dirt. I suspected the area in the middle with the symptoms was clay. There is an easy way to test and remedy this. I asked if he had a garden fork. He produced a brand new garden fork out of his garage (forks still in shrink wrap). I took the fork and headed to the offending spot with him and his aging father in tow. I explained that the problem was that the soil had more than likely compacted. This is when the soil is compressed and the air is pushed out. This forms a solid layer of dirt under the grass which prevents water, air, and food from getting to the roots of the grass. I explained the easiest remedy was to stick the fork into the soil, push it as deep as it will go and then push the fork back and forth. Therefore creating holes in the compacted layer for the water etc to get through to the roots. This can be cased when building but can also be caused by the following things Cars driving on the grass High traffic areas in the lawn (clothesline, children’s play area, etc) An above-ground swimming pool. Clay or bad soil. You would usually use an aerator to solve this issue but at a push a garden fork will work. It all sounded so simple until I thrust the fork into the trouble area. It stopped dead and made a ringing noise. It got less them 3mm in and struck, what I can only imagine was some kind of metal/clay fill. There was no way we were going to get a fork in there. I moved three steps away to where it was lush and tried again. The fork went straight in. Well, we now know what the problem was but he was going to have to contact the developer to get that fixed. It is normally a lot easier than that. You can read more on an article I wrote about the subject for www.lawnmowing101.com

This is a problem that I seem to get asked about a lot. Especially here in the Waikato where the grass grows like mad in the Spring. That would not be so bad if your lawn all grew at one speed but that does not always happen. Quite often I will get a customer that tells me something like “my back yard grows faster than my front yard. Why is that?” In this post, I will do my best to answer this question for you. I have compiled a list of the main reasons this could happen and what you could do about it. It could be a weed that is growing faster than the lawn. During the Springtime we get a lot of issues with daisies. We get a lot of customers asking if we can cut the lawn shorter. This achieves nothing except perhaps damaging the lawn as the daisies will still grow faster than the grass. If fact the could be back flowering within 48 hours. If you are having issues with weeds I would suggest you go to this page on the Kiwicare site which will help you identify and treat the weed. https://www.kiwicare.co.nz/advice/garden/top-20-lawn-weeds/ Different kinds of grasses on your lawn. This is one of the more common reasons. If you have a fine turf lawn you may have some coarse grasses getting in. These will grow faster than the fine grass and will need cutting more often. You can treat this issue but it is going to be hard work to get on top of the problem. You will find more information on the Kiwicare site. https://www.kiwicare.co.nz/problem/coarse-grass-in-lawns/ Another common reason for this is that a part of the lawn has been resown at some stage with a different grass type. If this is the case there is not a lot you can do short of digging up the lawn and resowing it again. Did you fertilise your lawn recently? If this is a recent problem and you have been fertilising your lawn with pellets then it may be due to an uneven spreading of the fertiliser. This will need to grow out but you can avoid it in the future by using a spreader or by applying a liquid fertiliser instead. Change direction when mowing. If the shorter areas are uniform it may be ruts caused by always mowing your lawn one way. Try changing the direction you mow each time and that will reduce that problem and give you a more even cut. The other thing you may want to check is that your front axle on the lawnmower does not have any play. A lot of mowers use plastic bushes and these can wear causing play in the wheels and an uneven cut. Your local mower shop should be able to fix this problem for you. Your lawn may need aeration If the soil gets compacted then the grass can grow slowly in the compacted areas. Compacting is when the soil is compressed and this forms a hard layer on top which can prevent water, air, and nutrients from getting to the roots of the grass. This can be caused by A high traffic area (walking, children, and animals) Cars driving over the lawn A freestanding pool A clay area in the lawn You can buy an aeration tool from your local hardware like this one. https://www.bunnings.co.nz/saxon-lawn-aerator-roller_p03360864 If you do not want to buy a tool you can use a garden fork and use it on the affected areas. Push the fork into the ground move it back and forth then move on. Go in different directions and move over trouble spots a few times. These are the main issues I come across although there may be other reasons. I have written a more comprehensive post about this for lawnmowing101.com and you may find this helpful if you want further reading. https://lawnmowing101.com/this-is-why-your-lawn-is-growing-at-different-rates/ And do remember that if you would like a quote on lawn mowing and you live in Hamilton then, I am only a phone call away.

So your lawn is out of control. It’s a real jungle and it’s getting longer by the day. Don’t panic. In my 30 years as a lawn mowing contractor, I have done this many times. A lawn as long as the one in the photo above is mower can be cut but before you charge out and do this here are a few things you should know first. First things first. What kind of mower have you got? You will need a petrol mower. If you have an electric or a battery-powered mower give up now and call a lawn mowing contractor or hire a mower. If you attempt to mow a lawn like the one in the photo you will kill your mower. If you have a petrol-powered mower that is good. Before you charge out with your mower you will need to check the engine size. You will usually find that on a sticker on top of the engine. You will need at least a 4.5 horsepower or a 150cc or more engine. If your mower has a 3.5 HP simular do not use it on a lawn like this. You will kill your mower. Check under your mower Before you go flipping your mower on its side remove the spark plug lead and check the engine. Has is got a dip stick? If so you have a four-stroke so you are going to need to lift it from the front. If you flip a four-stroke mower on its side you are going to either fill the air filter or the muffler with oil. Neither is good. If you haven’t got a dip stick and you mix oil in with your petrol when you gas up then you have a two-stroke. You can flip those mowers without any trouble. Clean out any old grass that is under the mower. Don’t use water as the mower will perform better if it is dry. Just clean the underneath of the mower as best as you can by hand or using a tool like a screwdriver. What kind of blades have you got? If you have a disk with two of four blades attached then you have a disk (or flower) blade. This is not the best blade to use on an overgrown lawn but it can be done. It will just be a little bit messier with a bit more grass lying around. A sharp blade will help but you cannot really sharpen these blades. However, your local lawn mower shop will probably be able to replace them for under $50. If you have a bar blade then you are in luck It will do a nicer job and be easier to manage. Sharpen the blade if you can as that will help. Again you can get your local lawn mower shop to do this if you cannot. Another thing to watch out for with a bar blade is they can be unforgiving and bend the crank if you hit something. That can destroy your engine. Do the edges first. If you have a weedeater then this is the time to do the edges and around any objects like tree stumps etc. Remove any cabbage tree leaves on the lawn first as they will gum up your mower and weedeater. You may have to do the edges again when you finish mowing the lawn because they may end up being higher than your mow. If you weed-eat again remember to fun around the edges with a mower when done to collect the clippings. Get the lawn ready. Go around the lawn and locate and move and objects that the mower might hit. Now it is time to get the mower out. You will need to mow the lawn twice. Your first mow. Adjust the mower as high as it will go. Do not use a catcher but make sure the flap is down on the rear of the mower. There is a good reason you should not use a catcher for the first cut. If the grass is longer than the grass shoot it will block the shoot as soon as you start. Instead of throwing the grass into the catcher the grass will build up and clog the mower. The end result will look worse than it would if you didn’t use a catcher at all. Start the mower off the grass and mow around the edge of the lawn throwing the grass towards the middle of the lawn. Go slow and if the mower shoot blocks turn off the mower and remove the grass from the shoot. Keep going around until you get to the middle of the lawn and the whole thing has been cut. Your second mow. Now take the mower down a notch. Do one circuit without the catcher the place a catcher on the mower and do the circuit again. Keep repeating until you end up in the middle of the lawn. It is not going to look perfect but it will look a hundred times better then it did that morning. Make a note in your diary to cut the lawn again in a week or two. Of course, if you don’t feel like going through all this, you could call your local lawn mowing contractor. Or if you live in Hamilton you could just call me. Happy lawn mowing.

How to get the lawn on the right hand side I took this photo while I was out mowing a lawn. The last time I was there the new lawn on the left was just about due for its first cut. This lawn is going to take a long time to recover from this cut. (if it ever does) There are a few rules you nee to follow if you want your new lawn to look good and be healthy. Wait until you see the start of a wave on your new lawn. This will do a couple of things If you have sown a lawn from seed it will allow the roots to take hold properly before you hit it with a mower. If you have ready turf it will have time to adjust to its new location and settle in before its first cut. Once you see the signs of the grass starting to bend under its own weight it is time to get the mower out. Before you go ahead and cut the lawn you need to check your mower. Are your blades sharp? If not you will need to have them sharpened before going ahead. A mower blade does not have to be as sharp as a streak knife but it does need to have at least a bit of an edge to it. If you have a work shed then a vice and a grinder will do. (just make sure to count how many strokes you give each side of the blade and keep them even) If you cannot do this at home a mower shop will probably do this for under $30. If you cut your new lawn with a blunt blade it will damage the grass and make it susceptible to diseases. Never take anymore then a third off the grass height in one cut. This doesn't just apply to grass. It is usually the case for any kind of plant, shrub or even trees. You need to cut your new lawn high. For best results cut it as high as your mower will go and then bring it down a bit more the following week. Catch and remove the grass if you are not using a dedicated mulch mower. You do not want to leave clumps of grass on the lawn as this can also cause diseases and a unhealthy lawn. Mulching can be good for a lawn and some of my best lawns are munched but I would not recommend doing it as your first cut. What happens if I cut my lawn too short? The lawn on the left hand side of this photo is going to face a few issues if they keep cutting it like this. It will die off if it gets too hot as it does not have enough leaf cover. The yellow pieces you see is sun damage due lack of cover. The brown patches you see are where the crown of the grass plant has been damaged. This could stunt or cause the grass plant to die off completely. It also leaves bare areas in the lawn that will be an ideal area for flat weeds to take root and infest the lawn. What happens if I don't want to do this myself. The answer here is simple if you live in Hamilton Just call us at Gecko Lawns and we can take care of your new lawn for you.