Home & Garden

Whether you’ve got a large expanse of grass or a small rectangular patch, the preparation of your lawn in spring  is the same, and ideally starts around the end of March, with a trip to your local garden centre. You may need some new tools, such as a lawn rake, or perhaps even a new mower, and you may also need to invest in some sharp sand if your lawn needs help with drainage and compost to feed and enrich your lawn, and stimulate new growth.

Once you have everything you need, the golden rule is to make sure you have the right conditions for mowing the lawn – if the grass is wet with morning dew, you’ll need to leave the job until it has dried out. Late afternoon on a warm day with a dry surface are the ideal conditions for mowing. But beforeyou crank your mower into action you need to prepare the lawn; rake up anyrubbish, tree branches, twigs and debris that have accumulated on the surface of your lawn over the winter months. Move any garden furniture or other obstacles that will get in the way of your mowing.

Take a long-handled lawn rake to any moss that has grown on the surface as this can kill large areas of grass if allowed to spread unchecked. Now is the time to also remove deep rooted weeds that will seed and spread in spring if allowed to go unchecked. Take a short handled fork, dig around the plant, andmake sure you remove the whole root, which in some cases can be quitedeep. Now you are ready to begin mowing.

It’s important that for the first cut of the season your mower rotor or cylinder blades are on a high setting. You really just want to top the grass on the first cut, as cutting too closely will damage the grass, particularly if the surface is very soft.After a wet winter, you may notice spongy damp areas of your lawn, which may well indicate a drainage problem. This can be improved by using a fork to create a pattern of holes in the grass a few inches apart. Sharp sand should be sprinkled into the holes to improve drainage and improve the quality of the surface.At the beginning of April, you can begin a pattern of fortnightly mowing, and re-set the blades on your mower to a medium height This will enable you to create the much admired tramline effect, and the heavier the roller on your mower, the more pronounced these lines will be. Once the main cutting is finished, you will need to take your edge trimmers around the perimeter to complete the manicured finish. Your lawn will benefit from a feed of spring fertiliser summer compound around this time, which should contain nitrogen to encourage a lush green colour. Most lawn feeds also contain some weedkillers to finish off that moss you’ve raked out so make sure you remove all the grass cuttings, and don’t put the first cut on the compost heap.