Spring Advice

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:

Before getting the mower out, give the lawn a once over and rake up twigs, leaves and any debris which might damage your lawn mower. Hopefully, you have been doing this anyway, to avoid leaves and debris causing dead patches.

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:

We advise leaving the heavy-duty scarifying until the Autumn, but lightly dethatching a lawn in Spring helps to remove any residual moss and other dead plant material that may have built up over Winter. This can be done with a spring tine rake or a scarifier can be hired. We recommend doing several passes over the lawn and though this can leave it looking a bit bare initially, if followed with aerating and overseeding can really improve the quality of the lawn

Overseed or repair bare patches:

If you have scarified and aerated the lawn, we would advise following this by over seeding to ensure thick, full grass coverage. Germination is more likely to be successful if done following aeration as it provides an ideal seed bed.

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:

Weeds which may have lain dormant over winter will start to make an appearance. Bright yellow celandine, daisies and chickweed can all flower from as early as March. The best time to treat is when they are actively growing from mid-April onwards with a selective herbicide to avoid damaging the rest of the lawn. Some weeds are more persistent than others and could require more than one treatment, see our weeds page for further information.

If you have done any seeding, wait at least 6 weeks before applying herbicide to avoid damaging new grass shoots.

Aeration:

Aeration has a wealth of benefits for the lawn, including oxygenating the soil to enhance root development and assisting surface drainage. A compacted, damp lawn will also encourage moss. If you suffered a soggy, mossy lawn over Winter, a Spring aeration could be just the ticket. You can take a DIY approach by either using a garden fork to spike holes into the lawn, or there are hand-held aeration tools that help you remove cores from the lawn. Electric machines can be hired from some garden centres, or alternatively consider help from a lawn care company.

Spring feed:

Apply an early season spring fertiliser to restore any nutrients lost through the winter period and get the grass growing again. This should be a mix of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium but make sure you read the instructions carefully. Avoid the temptation to green up the lawn by over applying or applying too much nitrogen as this is not sustainable in the long term and your lawn will eventually suffer. The worst-case scenario is that it will die as a result.

Remember that despite popular belief a professional lawn care programme it is often as cheap as doing it yourself, but with the added benefit of the expertise of our qualified professionals doing it for you while you sit back and relax. Companies such as Lawntech or other members of the UK lawn Care network will provide you with an annual lawn care programme including aeration, scarification, weed/moss control plus an array of other specialist treatments and services.

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.