A well-kept Jimboomba Turf lawn during spring and summer is the envy of the street, but we’re here to help you to keep up appearances all the way through winter, too. As temperatures start to cool, your lawn will begin to lose that lush green colour you love and take on a bit of a straw-coloured look. Before you panic, we're here to tell you a couple of things; it's completely normal, and it is somewhat avoidable! Read on to find out more!
Why Warm Season Grasses Go Dull in Winter
Warm season grasses like Sir Grange Zoysia, TifTuf Bermuda and Sir Walter DNA Certified Buffalo are absolute champions in the Queensland heat, but they do have a tendency to slow right down as temperatures drop. When growth slows, so does the production of chlorophyll, which is the pigment that gives your lawn that beautiful, deep green colour. The grass isn't dying; it's just having a well-earned rest. The downside is it can make your yard look a little worse for wear through the cooler months, which is not always want we want to see when we look out the window! 
Enter ColourGuard Plus
ColourGuard Plus is a ripper product from Lawn Solutions Australia that's become something of a secret weapon for Jimboomba Turf customers who refuse to let their lawn embarrass them in winter. It's a natural, plant-based grass pigment combined with a liquid fertiliser that instantly restores your lawn's green colour, no matter what the weather's doing. Think of it as a colour boost and a health boost rolled into one bottle.
It works by delivering micron-sized organic pigment particles into the tiny pores of your grass leaf tissue. Once dried, those pigments are locked in and won't wash off in rain or fade in heat. The colour is permanent in the sense that it'll only disappear as your grass grows and you mow it off, so you're looking at up to three months of great colour from a single application.
And before anyone asks, yes, it's completely safe. ColourGuard Plus is 100% natural and non-toxic, which means the kids and the dog can be back out on the lawn as soon as it's dry.
When to Apply It
The best time to reach for ColourGuard Plus is in late autumn, just as you start to notice that familiar yellowing creeping in, which typically happens in late April or into May in Southeast Queensland. Getting in early means your lawn looks great from the start of winter rather than playing catch-up once it's already looking a little rough. That said, it can be applied any time of year, so even if you've left it a bit late or you've got an event coming up at short notice, you can still get great results fast.
A couple of things worth knowing before you get started: ColourGuard works on living grass, so if your lawn has patches that are genuinely dead and dry rather than just dormant, the pigment won't read as green on those areas. And if you're planning a mow before applying, that's a good move, but just don't cut too low. Scalping a dormant lawn is not recommended. 
How to Apply It
The 100ml concentrate available in the Jimboomba Turf online store covers up to 200 square metres of lawn, which is more than enough for most home lawns. You mix it with water in a knapsack or pressure sprayer according to the bottle instructions, then spray it evenly across your lawn, working from one side to the other in smooth, sweeping passes. The colour goes on instantly, so it's easy to see where you've already covered to avoid doubling up.
When you get near paths, driveways or other hard surfaces, stand on the hard surface and spray toward the lawn rather than the other way around. If you do get some overspray on concrete, just rinse it off with a hose into the lawn while it's still wet. Once it dries, which takes as little as two hours in full sun, it's locked in and won't bleed or stain no matter how much rain comes down.
The Practical Upside
Beyond the obvious visual improvement, there are a few other good reasons to use ColourGuard Plus through winter. The liquid fertiliser component delivers nitrogen, iron and manganese directly through the leaf, which is particularly handy when the ground is cold and root uptake is sluggish. It also acts as a natural UV screen, helping to protect the leaf tissue during the cooler months. And because it gives your lawn a fertiliser hit at the same time, you can ease back on your usual fertiliser applications while it's working.
If you're selling your home, hosting a function, or you've just got the kind of pride in your yard that won't tolerate a dull lawn for the cooler months of the year, ColourGuard Plus is exactly the product you've been looking for.
Pick up a bottle through the Jimboomba Turf online store and give your lawn the winter it deserves!
