How to get your lawn ready for autumn?

by Thomas Cramphon Professional Gardener

Autumn is a busy time for gardeners, clearing away the decaying vegetation, managing soils and preparing the garden for the colder winter months ahead. Just because the weather is getting cooler doesn’t mean you should stop cutting and watering your lawn. It’s also the perfect time for lawn care and to revitalise it.

Autumn is also the time when plants slow their growth and to fully stop in the winter. But, this season is perfect for planting evergreens, shrubs, and flowers to help pollinators survive the winter. Start preparing for compost piles, especially since you’ll have tons of organic materials to throw out.

Here are some of the top tips on how can you make best of this season for lawn care.

Scarifying Lawn

Scarifying is the process of raking the lawn to reduce the layers of thatch in the lawn. Thatch is a collection of debris, dead grass and old moss that can prevent water and fertiliser from penetrating the roots of the grass. Autumn is a great time to scarify as you can rake a little deeper than if you were to do it in spring when you would have to be more delicate.

Aerate your Lawn:

Autumn is the perfect time to aerate your lawn. Aerating your lawn allows water, oxygen, and fertiliser to reach the roots of your grass so it can better survive the winter. If you need help on aerating your lawn, call a garden maintenance expert to do it for you.

Fertilise

If you noticed early this spring that your lawn was slow to grow or lacked vitality then, you should consider applying a lawn fertiliser now. London Garden Maintenance Service can do all the job of fertilising your lawn. This will help your lawn to develop strong roots which will result in result in a much better lawn next year.

Fix Patches

Lawns form patches when children use it as football fields over the summer, or have a line set up with a well-beaten track underneath. Get these areas fixed easily now before the next season starts. In areas that receive a lot of wear (such as paths and play areas), the soil can become compacted. Improve drainage and aeration by making deep holes with the prongs of a garden fork every 10cm across the entire area.

This allows air to reach grass roots which will encourage growth. Over any badly bare patches, you will want to add some fresh seed. Fortunately, have the help of a professional in getting the patches fixed.

Sow a New Lawn

Autumn is a great time to lay new turf too, giving it plenty of time to establish before next summer. If you want a fresh new lawn to be laid, get the help of a professional garden service company to guide you or get the job done.

General Maintenance:

While moss will have crept into many of our lawns these past few wet weeks, it will also have crept up onto our hard surface areas like patios, drives, pavement and tarmac. Now is the time to treat moss and algae growing on hard surfaces. Remove thatch (old grass clippings) and moss using a spring-tined rake and add it to the compost heap. If you have large amounts of moss then you may want to use a professional treatment to get rid of moss completely.

Sandy Dressing:

A sandy top dressing can be brushed in afterwards, followed by an application of autumn lawn feed to prepare your lawn for the cold winter months.

It’s the time to do the garden maintenance before the colder months seep in.