Goulds Stores

How to prepare your lawn for winter

Lawns are living plants and after a summer of mowing, heat (hopefully!), games and general backdrop duties, they need some restorative treatment. Not only will their visual appeal be maintained, but some of these tasks help to keep problems away.

You'll need to remove fallen leaves from your lawn, as these will cause it to go brown. Even if you don't do anything more extensive, a good “scarify” with a lawn rake and application of fertilizer is worth taking the trouble to do.

Replace lost nutrients by applying an autumn lawn fertilizer. This will have a different mix of the relevant chemicals (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) to a spring one. Autumn fertilizers encourage strong root growth to help the lawn deal with long dry spells next summer.

Aerate the soil by making holes in your lawn to bring in fresh oxygen and to stop compacting. It is important since it helps grass roots to grow deeply. It stops the soil beneath your lawn's surface from becoming compacted, and reduces an excessive build up of thatch. This can be done by spiking with a fork, a hollow tine aerator or a rake.

Scarifying your lawn (or hard raking) removes the layer of dead grass and grass clippings that will have built up during the summer and which can choke new growth in the spring. If you have a moss problem, use a moss killer before you scarify, so that you don't spread it around. Follow the instructions on the moss-killing product you buy.  Cover the lawn in two directions to remove the maximum amount of thatch. Usually you can scarify by hand. Use a lawn rake with spring tines - a rake with a splayed head. Really push the tines of the rake into the surface of your lawn and pull it back. Vigorous hard scratching is what's required. To do this effectively is really hard work!