Worked example
A year on a couch lawn
A twelve month schedule for couch, kikuyu or buffalo in a warm climate: when to mow, feed, water and renovate, as a file you can import.
Suits: Warm season grass in a climate with a hot summer and a mild winter, such as most of Australia.
All year
Mow weekly in growth, fortnightly when it slows
Frequency beats height. Little and often keeps it dense.
Spring
First feed as the soil warms and growth returns
Feeding a lawn that is still dormant feeds the weeds instead.
Spring
Wetting agent before the first hot spell
Soil that has dried out hard will shed water rather than take it.
Late spring
Renovate: scalp, dethatch, level, feed
The lawn has the whole summer to recover, which it needs.
Summer
Deep water twice a week, skipping after real rain
Deep and infrequent sends roots down before the heat arrives.
Summer
Feed every six weeks while it is growing hard
Growth uses what is there. A long summer empties the tank.
Autumn
Last feed while the soil is still warm
It carries colour into winter rather than pushing soft growth.
Autumn
Raise the mowing height a notch
More leaf collects more light as the days shorten.
Winter
Mow only as needed, watch for frost
Walking on frosted grass breaks the leaf and leaves prints for weeks.
Take it, do not copy it out
This is the file, not a picture of one. Copy it, open the import screen, and it lands as dated entries you can look over before anything is saved. Change your mind and the whole import comes out in one click.
- The months suit the southern hemisphere. Shift each season window by six months for the north.
- No rates are set. Attach your own product to a job and the amount is worked out from its label and the area it covers.
- Watering skips itself after real rain, using the forecast for your address rather than a fixed day of the week.
couch-lawn-year.json
{
"kind": "schedule",
"name": "Couch lawn year",
"series": [
{
"title": "Mow",
"category": "mow",
"rule": { "freq": "weekly", "interval": 1 },
"seasonWindow": { "from": "09-01", "to": "05-31" }
},
{
"title": "Mow",
"category": "mow",
"rule": { "freq": "weekly", "interval": 2 },
"seasonWindow": { "from": "06-01", "to": "08-31" }
},
{
"title": "Deep water",
"category": "water",
"rule": { "freq": "weekly", "timesPerPeriod": 2 },
"seasonWindow": { "from": "11-01", "to": "03-31" },
"rainHintMm": 5
},
{
"title": "Feed the lawn",
"category": "fertilize",
"rule": { "freq": "weekly", "interval": 6 },
"seasonWindow": { "from": "09-01", "to": "04-30" }
},
{
"title": "Wetting agent",
"category": "wetting_agent",
"rule": { "freq": "monthly", "dayOfMonth": 1 },
"seasonWindow": { "from": "10-01", "to": "02-28" }
}
]
}A plan is easy. Keeping up is the hard part.
Measure your lawn once and this becomes dates that move with the weather, jobs that know what to buy, and photos that show whether any of it worked. Free.