Our top tips on how to kick-start your lawn for the spring:
Now that the winter is behind us (hooray!) we are starting to get back out in the garden again and will be thinking about carrying out the first mow of the season. Whilst there is nothing quite like the smell of freshly mown grass in the spring, we should give our lawn and lawn mower a bit of a health check before we get going for another year. The quickest way to dampen your enthusiasm is to start mowing only to have your mower throw a tantrum or tear the lawn to bits. Apart from mowing, you can also give your lawn a bit of a boost by giving it some treatments and a tidy up.
Post winter tidy up:
Moss Control:
If your lawn missed out on a moss treatment over Winter, this can still be tackled in Spring before temperatures get too warm (we wouldn’t advise any later than April). Treated moss dries out and turns brown/black and can be lightly raked to remove from the lawn. This may leave some areas a little thin, but grass coverage should soon return with there being more daylight and with temperatures warming up.
Moss on other surfaces can also be cleaned off and we have a variety of guides on our moss page.
Scarify:
Overseed or repair bare patches:
Consider incorporating grass types suited to your situation, e.g. harder wearing ryegrass mix may suit you if you have children or dogs using the lawn. See our grass seed guides to help you decide
Soil temperatures begin to warm during April and into May but remember to keep germinating seed well-watered if the temperatures start to rise to avoid the risk of the lawn dying off.
If you have only minor areas to repair, rake the patch and rough up to form a tilth, before putting down some seed and keeping watered until germination.
First Mow:
Make sure your mower has been serviced and that the blade has been sharpened to avoid stressing the grass. Carry out first mow on a high setting without removing more than a third of the height of the grass at any one time. See our mowing page for more in depth guidance.
Weed Control:
If you have done any seeding, wait at least 6 weeks before applying herbicide to avoid damaging new grass shoots.
Aeration:
Spring feed:
However there’s nothing to stop you doing it yourself, and you can find top quality, value for money supplies at www.thelawnstore.co.uk.