WITH ALAN TITCHMARSH DON’T DELAY FIXING THE FORLAWN GRASS
BY THE end of the summer, the combined effect of children, dogs, garden furniture and outdoor fun and games — not to mention periodic droughts and downpours — means that most family lawns are looking and feeling a tad worse for wear.
So treat your grass to an all- over programme of autumn care that prepares it for whatever next summer throws at it.
Carried out any time between now and mid- October when the ground is moist and growing conditions are good, this simple series of steps brings about slow, gradual improvement over the winter.
MOWING
Cut the grass once as usual, using the grass box to collect up the clippings. If you use a hover mower, or any kind that doesn’t have a grass box, rake the clippings up afterwards and remove them. Then mow again, at right angles to the previous direction
— again picking up the clippings.
RAKING Use a lawn rake with long, springy wire tines or an electric lawn raker with rotating wire teeth to rake the whole lawn hard. Drag out any moss, mat-forming weeds and old trodden-in grass clippings that build up to form an organic underlay, which encourages moss and makes it difficult for rain to penetrate.
Repeat this at right angles to the original direction to remove as much waste as possible.
Don’t worry if you can see some bare soil between the blades of grass after raking — it shows you’ve done it thoroughly.
FEEDING
Apply an autumn lawn feed evenly all over by hand or using a special lawn feed spreader. This formulation is designed to toughen up grass without encouraging strong growth.
If you want to cut costs, use blood, fish and bone instead. Apply the feed when the soil is moist and rain is expected within two days, so it’s well watered in. If the weather is dry, delay feeding.
AERATING
If your lawn is on clay soil or it tends to get badly waterlogged in winter, it needs annual aerating. But any lawn that’s been in place for several years and gets lots of heavy wear benefits from being aerated every autumn to alleviate the natural compaction that results from walking on the grass. Spiking or slashing is the antidote, opening up drainage channels, making it easier for roots and worms to penetrate, and generally improving growing conditions for grass. Use a mechanical or electric spiker or slasher.
TOP DRESSING
After aerating, and while the grass is still short from recent mowing, spread a thin layer (no more than a quarter of an inch) of top dressing evenly all over the surface of the turf, and work it in with the back of a rake or broom.
Use gritty sand to top-dress clay soil or ground that waterlogs badly as this improves surface drainage. Use bags of bought topsoil or readymade turf top dressing for normal or light sandy soil. Regular top-dressing is the only way to improve soil.
TREATMENT: Aerate your grass with a fork to slash