Nothing is better than a bright green lawn for setting out a lounge chair or barbecue in summer, but the stress from the heat can cause moss to take over if you are not careful. Moss often invades garden during hot weather by taking advantage of thin, dry, or stressed patches on the lawn where grass that is struggling to grow due to lack of water.
It is incredibly important to be careful using chemical moss treatment in summer as many can scorch the grass and cause even more damage if you do not apply it correctly. However, Cathy, a gardener and founder of Catrina’s Garden has shared there is a natural way to get rid of moss, and you likely already have it in your home as all you need is a little baking soda.
How to get rid of moss growing on lawns
Moss can only thrive in acidic soil, but baking soda is a alkaline product which will create a unfavourable environment, so the mossy spores cannot grow back.
Baking soda is also highly absorbent and will draw moisture out of moss which will dry out the waxy protective layer on its surface.
All you need to do is mix three tablespoons of baking soda into litre of water, and then pour directly onto the moss.
Make sure it is a dry hot day to use baking soda as the moss will be more vulnerable due to the lack of moisture and will die very quickly.
In a few days the moss should be brown and crispy so you can easily pick it up to dispose of it properly.
How to stop moss coming back
Baking soda is fantastic as a cheap and natural way to get rid of moss quickly without harming your grass, but you need to know that it is only a temporary solution.
Cathay said: “If you must grow grass in that spot, you need to look at the reasons why grass won’t grow there. Don’t try and kill the moss. Instead try and make the grass grow better.”
Moss tends to grow on unhealthy lawns where the grass is too weak to compete with it, so you need to address the underlaying issue if you want to stop this spongy menace coming back.
The most common issue is that the soil underneath your grass is too compact, which means you need to aerate the lawn to break up the ground by poking it with a pitchfork.
