Revive your lawn
Matthew Biggs trained as a horticulturist at RBG Kew and has been gardening professionally and getting lawns into shape for over 30 years
Autumn maintenance helps your lawn to recover from summer and prepares it for winter. There are several simple steps to a great lawn. Raking out moss and dead grass (scarifying) helps rain to drain through the soil and fertiliser to reach the roots. Spiking the surface improves air movement and drainage, re-seeding fills any bare areas, and top dressing improves soil and levels out hollows.
Q My lawn turned brown over the summer – how can I revive it?
Like all the world’s grasslands, your lawn is resilient and will soon recover. To help it along, scarify it every autumn to remove debris. If it’s a small area, use a hand-held wire rake to vigorously scratch the whole surface. With medium lawns, use an electric lawn rake or mower attachment. For large areas you may prefer to hire a powered scarifier. Rake one way first, then at 90 degrees. You’ll be surprised how much ‘thatch’ (moss and dead grass) comes out. Afterwards, scatter lawn seed over the whole area, concentrating on any bare patches, then water well. Your lawn will soon revive.
Q How can I get rid of lawn weeds?
Use different methods for different weeds. Remove daisies, plantains and dandelions with a hand fork, daisy grubber or dandelion weeder. Before mowing, use a wire rake to lift up creeping weeds like clover. To discourage field woodrush, spike the lawn with a garden fork to improve drainage. Regular mowing helps to get rid of unwanted coarse grasses, as will slashing the clump with an old knife or half-moon tool. Feeding, spiking, scarifying and raising the height of cut all improve grass growth at the expense of weeds. There are also specially formulated lawn weedkillers that will not harm the grass.
Q Why bother with autumn lawn treatment when winter will soon be here? September/early October is the ideal time to repair a lawn, as the soil is still warm and moist. Do it before grass stops growing, while it isn’t under stress from the weather.
Q Help! My lawn is dry now, but it’s always wet and muddy in winter Spiking a lawn helps it cope with both drought and waterlogging. In a small area, simply spike the ground with a garden fork. For larger areas, hire a hollow-tined aerator machine, which takes out plugs of soil. Do this every three to four years, and join with friends to reduce the individual cost. Hand-held versions are also available. Sweep up the plugs, then rake in ready-mixed ‘top dressing’ (a compost formulated to improve growth and drainage), sow with grass seed, then water.