Nothing brings all the elements of your garden together better that a carpet of lush, green grass. It complements your colourful borders, tolerates ball games extremely well, and creates the perfect space for you to relax in.

It takes a few, timely steps to keep your lawn healthy, so follow our guide to Spring lawn care and look forward to getting those sun loungers out!

Mowing

First you’ll need to mow your grass, so that when you apply your lawn feed later it won’t get blown away by your mower!

Mow across your lawn, and then up and down to make sure you give it an even cut.

Never be tempted to cut your lawn too short at this time of year as you’ll ‘scalp’ and weaken it, and encourage moss!

Raking

Then you need to remove as much thatch (dead grass and debris) and moss as you can with your lawn rake. If you leave the thatch in your lawn, it will rot down to ‘litter’ and may cause fungal problems later in the year – and it’s easy to tell if you have too much lawn ‘litter’ as you’ll probably have lots of worm casts from the worms enjoying your rich, organic soil!

You’ll be surprised at just how much you’ll get out which you can add to your compost heap, and you can always leave some out as nest-building material for birds.

Aeration

Next you need to relieve compaction and improve the aeration and drainage, and this is done using your fork. Drive your fork into the lawn, and then wiggle it around in a circle to widen the holes you have made. Repeat this at approximately 12” intervals until you have covered the whole lawn.

Feeding

When these steps are finished, it’s time to add your feed, weed and moss killer – you can do this by hand, but it’s much easier to use a purpose-designed spreader, which will also ensure that you don’t waste any product by applying too much.

Repairing

An uneven surface, worn out or bare patches can quickly make your lawn look scruffy and un-loved – but they’re easy to deal with, you just need to know how!

Bare Patches – most often occur when the lawn is in poor condition or where large weeds have been removed. The quickest and best way to deal with them is to re-seed – which you can do by mixing soil and seed and sprinkling over your bare patch, or by using specially developed patch product such as MiracleGro’s Patch Magic. This contains a mixture of coir, grass seed and plant food which, when applied and watered, absorbs water and expands. The grass seeds are effectively surrounded in a moist, protective layer which provides nutrients as they grow, and can result in up to 50% thicker grass. Whichever method of re-seeding you choose, keep the area well watered until the new grass is established.

Peaks & Dips – often occur when a lawn has been laid for some time and result in an uneven surface – which means that your mower will ‘scalp’ the peaks and miss the hollows, spoiling the look of your lawn. The best way to flatten peaks is to strip the turf off of the peak, remove some of the soil beneath and then level before replacing the turf.

Deep hollows are treated the same way but in reverse, by adding top soil (or specially formulated products – such as EverGreen Complete Lawn Soil or Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Soil) until the dip is level and then replacing the turf. Very shallow dips can be filled in stages by top dressing with lawn soil (simply sprinkle thinly and evenly and then brush into the grass) two or three times during the year until your dip has disappeared.

Broken Edges – look very untidy, make proper edging impossible and mowing difficult – but they are very easy to fix! Simply take a sharp spade, cut out a square of turf with the broken edge on one side, lift it, turn it around and replace it in the gap. This will give you a new straight edge, and the broken edge will have created a hole in your lawn – simply fill with topsoil or lawn soil, firm it down and re-seed as for a bare patch.

And there you have it, just a few easy steps to getting your lawn perfect for Summer!

We stock a huge range of lawn care products, together with all the garden tools you need so pop in and collect all you need to make your lawn happy!