Lawn Care in Spring and Autumn

We have all been told it’s important to give your lawn that extra TLC in the Spring and Autumn, but why? And what are the different ways you should be looking after your lawn during the two seasons?

In this blog we will look at all the important Lawn Care jobs to tick off during the Spring as well as the Autumn to keep your lawn looking it’s best!

Our three main Lawn Care tips/jobs!

Scarifying, Aeration and Feeding are the three main grass care tips you need to think about, but what do these gardening terms mean:

Scarifying

This is simply the process of removing the brown organic material or moss which has built up in your grass (also known as the thatch layer). This thatch layer suffocates the roots of your grass, preventing growth and encourages unwanted weeds. By scarifying, or in other words removing this layer, you are restoring the soil space for grass to thrive.

How to scarify your lawn and at what time of year should I scarify?

1. Use a rake or a scarification machine (or a verticutter) to break the soil surface.
2. It is best to scarify your lawn while the grass is growing well, ideally during your spring lawn care, from March to May or during the autumn months at the end of August to October
3. Avoid scarifying your lawn at the hottest part of the day if the temperature is over 20 degrees.
4. Make sure you water and fertilise the grass well after scarifying. This is also the perfect opportunity to overseed brown patches in your lawn, however you should fertilise the grass first.
5. Continue to water once or twice a day for the next two weeks (unless there’s plenty of rain forecast)
6. Scarify your lawn once a year (if needed), more shaded lawns are prone to moss so may need additional scarifying.
7. Be sure to remove any grass cuttings after mowing as this breaks down into thatch.

Aeration

As is sounds the process of aeration is to allow air, water and nutrients to reach the grass roots. This is done by creating small holes or removing a core of grass in the soil with a plug Aerator or Spike Aerator. You should be aerating your lawn if you have a lot of footfall compacting the soil, if it dries out easily and has a spongy feel, or your home is a new build which may have received heavy construction traffic over your lawn space.

How to aerate your lawn and when to do this?

1. You should try to aerate your lawn once a year, if required.
2. We recommend aerating your lawn in the autumn months as your grass is more fragile in the Spring after the winter months, and the process of aerating would cause additional stress, making it harder for it to recover.
3. If you are scarifying and aerating your lawn, it’s better to scarify first, then aerate, allowing a few days in between for the lawn to recover.

Feeding

Spring and Autumn Feeds have a distinct difference – Spring feeds are high in Nitrogen which encourages top layer growth, whereas Autumn Lawn Feed is high in Potash or Phosphate which targets the roots and focuses its energy on protecting your lawn over the winter months.

Lawn feeds contain four essential nutrients, which all contribute to your lawn’s health in different ways. Here’s a quick outline of each nutrient and what they do:

(N) Nitrogen – the key ingredient to help new grass growth and encouraging a luscious green lawn.  Signs of your lawn needing a higher nitrogen level are yellowing/pale coloured grass.

(P) Phosphorous – this is all about targeting the grass roots to develop & encourage a strong root system, making the lawn more resilient all year round and especially in dry weather. This is important as part of your Autum Lawn Care.

(K) Potassium – this gives you lawn durability and a healthy hydration which helps your lawn to cope with drought and disease.

(Fe) Iron – perfect for making your lawn look greener whilst strengthening grass at the same time.

Steven from our retail team would highly recommend the ‘Evergreen Premium-Plus Autumn & Spring Lawn Feed‘. This is a unique formulated feed which offers a continuous release for 3 months, helping to prepare your lawn for the harsh winter and ensures early spring greening.

If you would like to find out more about the best care for your Lawn, our suppliers over at Westland and Miracle-Gro have a wide selection of online resources.

Miracle-Gro: https://www.lovethegarden.com/uk-en/articles/lawn-care

Westland: https://www.gardenhealth.com/hubs/lawn-care