The renovation game starts now…
Mid-August to early October is the perfect time to renovate your lawn. The soil is still warm giving grass seed the ideal conditions to germinate and it allows ample time for your lawn to recover before winter sets in. Each renovation programme has 3 main processes:
Scarification
Scarification is the process of mechanically removing the excessive build-up of moss and thatch from your lawn. Thatch is comprised of dead grass, partly rotted vegetation and debris which builds up over a period of time restricting the growth of the grass. Think of it as battle of wills between your grass and the thatch both competing for light and water. Left untreated the grass can lose the battle leading to it becoming choked, patchy and prone to dying off completely. Although your lawn can look a little scary after scarification, removing this debris from your lawn encourages fresh, more resilient grass growth ultimately giving you much healthier (and victorious!) grass.
Aeration
Aeration creates thousands of small holes in your lawn…and if this has made you wince don’t panic – the benefits of aeration are all too often underestimated. Aeration is the process of mechanically removing small cores of subsurface thatch and soil from your lawn to allow oxygen, nutrients and water to penetrate deep into the root zone. We recommend you do this annually as it also helps relieve compaction caused by heavy foot traffic and provides an ideal environment for subsequent over-seeding. Specialist machines can carry out solid or hollow tine aeration depending on the type of soil you have – an assessment of the soil and root zone should first be done to decide which type of tine to use for maximum results.
Over Seeding
Over seeding is an important part of keeping your lawn vibrant – healthy as lawns cannot re-produce seed heads to re-generate naturally due to us constantly mowing them (and rightly so…). As time passes lawns tend to get tired and require a bit of assistance with re-generating and over-seeding gives your lawn this helping hand. The process is particularly effective if aeration and scarification have taken place already as the removal of the cores creates a favourable environment for the new seeds to develop successfully.
A full, lawn renovation can be done by yourself, but it could be advisable to seek a reputable lawn care company to do it for you. The expertise of qualified professionals and bespoke machinery could provide good value while you sit back and relax.
A word of warning though – don’t wait too long during the summer before you decide on autumn lawn renovation as good lawn care companies get booked up really quickly at this time of year.
To see how the experts at Lawntech renovate a lawn, check out the video by visiting their website’s renovation page at www.lawn-tech.co.uk/lawn-care-renovation/lawn-repair-renovation or by clicking on this renovation video link.
