Buffalo
Stenotaphrum secundatumA broad-leafed, warm-season grass that spreads by thick surface runners. It copes with some shade better than couch or kikuyu, but is sensitive to some herbicides.
Lawn Library
One page for every grass type, weed, pest and disease, each linked to the questions, guides, calendar jobs and products that go with it.
Grass types
How to recognise each grass, where it grows best, how to mow, feed and water it, and which herbicides it is sensitive to.
Couch
Cynodon dactylonA fine-leafed warm-season grass that makes a dense, hard-wearing lawn in full sun and can be mown short. It spreads above and below ground, and thins out in shade.
Kikuyu
Cenchrus clandestinusA vigorous, hard-wearing warm-season grass that spreads fast by runners above and below ground. Great for heavy use in full sun; it needs edging to keep it out of garden beds.
Zoysia
Zoysia speciesA slow-growing, dense warm-season grass with stiff leaves. It needs less mowing than other warm-season grasses, but also recovers from damage more slowly.
Weeds
Identification, look-alikes, when each weed germinates in your climate, and the cultural and label-led ways to control it.
Bindii
Soliva sessilisA low-growing annual weed with finely divided leaves. It grows over winter and forms prickly burrs in spring, so the time to deal with it is before it seeds.
Clover
Trifolium repensA creeping perennial with three round leaflets and white flowers in spring. It spreads by runners and is good at holding its own in lawns that are short of nitrogen.
Nutgrass
Cyperus rotundusA sedge, not a true grass. It has shiny leaves, a triangular stem and underground tubers ("nuts") that let it regrow again and again.
Onion weed
Nothoscordum borbonicumA clumping weed with narrow leaves that grows from bulbs. Each plant produces many tiny bulblets, so pulling it out usually leaves some behind.
Winter grass
Poa annuaA soft, light-green grass weed that germinates in autumn, grows through winter and seeds in spring. Prevention in autumn works far better than trying to kill it once it's up.
Pests
The signs, how to confirm what you have, when pests are active, and how to deal with them.
Lawn armyworm
Spodoptera mauritiaCaterpillars that feed at night and strip grass leaves down to the crown. Damage can spread across a lawn in days, then the lawn usually recovers once they're gone.
Lawn grubs (curl grubs)
Heteronychus arator and other scarab larvaeC-shaped, cream-coloured beetle larvae that live in the soil and eat grass roots. Damaged patches turn brown and lift easily because the roots are gone.
Diseases
Symptoms, the conditions that bring them on, and how to prevent and treat them.
Brown patch
Rhizoctonia solaniA fungal disease that causes circular brown patches, often with a darker "smoke ring" edge, in mild, humid weather in spring and autumn.
Fairy rings
Many fungi (Basidiomycetes)Rings or arcs of darker, faster-growing grass, sometimes with mushrooms or a ring of dead grass, caused by fungi breaking down organic matter in the soil.
Lawn problems
Dry patches, shade, compaction, yellowing and other problems that aren’t a weed, pest or disease.
Dry patch (water-repellent soil)
Patches where water runs off or beads on the surface instead of soaking in, so the grass dries out even after watering. Common on sandy soils.
Shade
Lawn grasses need direct sun. In shade they grow thin and weak, and under trees they also compete with tree roots for water.
Yellowing lawn
A lawn that turns yellow or pale is telling you something: hunger, too much or too little water, mowing too low, pests, or simply winter dormancy.