Front Garden – Residents Responsibility
Loftus is something very special and residents should feel proud to live in Newport’s only garden village. We know many of you already do appreciate your beautiful environment but we want to get everyone on board with keeping their own little bit of Loftus looking lovely too. Whether it be lawn or shrubs outside your front door it is your responsibility to keep it maintained to at least a reasonable standard. Some of you already take a pride in this and have beautiful front gardens which we would like to thank you for but for those who are not green fingered it doesn’t mean you can leave it a mess. If you hate gardening then you still need to make arrangements for this work to be done by somebody.
Grass needs to be cut at least once a fortnight through the growing season and fed twice a year to stay healthy. Edges of lawns must also be kept trimmed and tall lawn weeds must be dealt with as they can flower and seed within a week which means the problem will only get worse if left. A bit of Clover and Daisies are not a problem as they are low growing and good for the insects but Dandilions, Docks , Thistles etc are not acceptable. There are basically 2 ways to tackle weeds growing in grass. Spray them with a lawn weed killer that only kills broad leaf weeds and not the grass, make sure you read the label, or tackle them the organic way by digging them out by hand.
We have a nifty little tool that pulls out lawn weeds by the root, it is easy to use and quite satisfying as the results are instant and it is available for you to borrow. Contact Frances if you would like a demonstration and a go of using it in your garden.
If you have bare patches on your lawn then its not too late to get some grass seed sown and germinated before the cold weather sets in. If you don’t you can guarantee that bare patch of soil will grow weeds instead. Grass seed is not expensive so if you have had a go and failed then keep trying. Make sure you are lightly digging the soil first to get a good bond between the seed and the earth and gently firm it down afterwards. Remember to keep the lawn free of leaves through the autumn and winter as they will kill the grass if left in one place for too long. There is much more you can do to your lawn if you want a gorgeous grass, like scarifying and aerating, but what I have mentioned should be the bare minimum to keep it at an acceptable standard.
If you have shrubs and flowers outside your front then these will need to be maintained too and the weeds pulled out before they ever get to seeding stage. This is important as its not neighbourly to contaminate other gardens with your weeds. If you’re not sure how or when to tackle your front garden then contact Frances, she is more than happy to give advice.
Pobl will be adopting a traffic light system on their inspections of front gardens . Green good, Amber needs improvement and Red will be totally unacceptable.
The Photos below show the standard of Green, Amber and Red for your lawn.
GREEN – regularly mown, weed free and fertilised.
AMBER – could do with a feed or left too long before cuts, needs over seeding and big weeds.
RED – rarely cut and big weeds taking over.
