Autumn is the perfect time of year to prepare lawn for the winter and next spring as the soil temperature is still warm enough to stimulate grass growth. Here are some tips on how to maintain your lawn in autumn.
Here are a few simple steps that you can take to ensure that it stays looking green and healthy for those autumn evenings – and ready to bounce right back in the spring.
Use some moss control for your autumn treatments. This treatment will begin to kill the moss early and you can then rake it out or scarify the lawn. You can buy autumn lawn care products in garden centres but they are usually very diluted and don’t works as well as the specialist treatments Lawn Bright use.
Autumn is a great time to scarify as you can rake the grass and ground a little deeper than if you were to do it in spring when you would have to be more delicate due to the young growth. Having said that it is still good to scarify in spring but only till mid-May when we still have wet weather.
Scarifying is when you vigorously rake your lawn to reduce the layers of thatch. Thatch is a collection of debris such as dead grass and old moss that can prevent water and fertiliser from getting through to the roots and soil. Lawn Bright can scarify your lawn with a professional scarifier that will get more thatch out from your lawn than doing it manually. We recommend scarifying once every two or three years.
Aeration is a cornerstone to having a well-maintained lawn. The process of aerating is essentially spiking the compacted lawn to allow for more air (and nutrients including water) to get to the grass roots. Aeration will also help your lawn survive through more extreme conditions such as waterlogging or drought.
There are many different methods of aerating your lawn based on the size and soil type of your lawn. If you are unsure what the best way is for you, contact lawn Bright and we can survey the lawn to give you the best advice.
We recommend aerating once every two or three years.
Once aerated, it’s time to put some top dressing down. Top dressing improves soil structure and encourages strong root development so helps to support a healthy lawn. It’s also a good time to seed areas that may have become thinned or bald during the summer.
Spread the lawn dressing evenly over the grass with the back of a rake, working it well into the holes created by spiking.
Once your lawn is treated and in pristine condition, it’s important to get some lawn feed and a root fertiliser down to ensure that the roots grow strong throughout the winter. This will ensure you have a lush green and healthy lawn for the next summer.
Autumn lawn fertiliser is high in potash and phosphates which will better protect the grass from frost and icy conditions as well as reduce moss in the lawn. Spring and summer feeds are high in nitrogen will encourage top growth, which is soft and easily damaged by frosts and not ideal for autumn Lawn treatment.
Lawn Bright use specific treatments for different seasons.
And finally, during the summer months the edges of your lawn may have got a little bit overgrown, which makes this the perfect time of year to trim back your borders and grass edges. For edges in beds where the soil is neatly trimmed but the grass has grown over horizontally, use lawn scissors to cut back the grass.
Don’t forget to pick up the cuttings from the bed. For edges that are not straight use a plank of wood like a giant ruler with a spade and trim along for a perfect straight edge. Again, don’t forget to collect the trimmings. Lawn Bright recommend doing this once every two to three years.
On the rare occasion in the British winter when the weather is dry, grab the rake and remove any fallen leaves on the lawn as they not only provide habitable shelter for garden pests, but they also suffocate the lawn which weakens the grass. Add the leaves to your compost heap, where they can rot down to help make a good natural soil conditioner for your flowerbeds next year.
Doing all these things will ensure you have a lawn that is the envy of your friends and neighbours the following summer. It will also entice you to spend for time enjoying your garden, which really is like another room for you to enjoy.
For a free survey contact us on 01582 744350 or email me on jet@lawnbright.co.uk
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