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A smooth, lush lawn is the perfect foil to any planting. From the first shy snowdrops to the autumn finale of the dahlias’ jewel hues, a lawn provides the classic garden backdrop. And next year’s lawn starts here!
It might not be looking its best at the moment, now that the autumn rains have brought mud, moss, leaves and general sogginess. But a little TLC will help it to look its best over the winter, and give it a flying start next spring.
Here are five autumn lawn care tasks to tackle before winter sets in.
Scarify
It sounds scary (no pun intended!) but scarifying is simply removing old, dead material from around the base of the grass, to enable water, air and nutrients through to the roots. Rake firmly but not roughly with a lawn rake or special scarifying rake to gently tease out moss and loose material from ground level. Don’t go overboard with this this in the autumn; bear in mind that growth will be minimal over the winter, and you don’t want your lawn to look scalped for months to come. In spring you can revisit and take scarifying to the next level, by cutting through the grass roots to promote new growth.
Aerate
This is a key task in autumn, as it will help the lawn to cope with the winter weather that’s around the corner. Simply take your digging fork, push the tines down vertically into the lawn, and give them a wiggle before pulling them out again. This creates holes which are large enough for much-needed drainage over the winter, and will prevent your lawn becoming waterlogged – which in turn will encourage moss growth. Lawns take a lot of punishment over a season, and the ground below the lawn can become compacted, which will eventually inhibit growth of the grass. Aerating helps rectify this, so make sure you aerate all over the lawn, especially in areas of high wear and tear.
Clear leaves
Leaves left on the lawn will kill the grass underneath. They’ll cause ugly bare patches which will last all winter and will need to be reseeded next spring. Use a leaf rake to easily collect leaves. Use a leaf rake with flat tines, rather than round ones, so the leaves are gathered rather than stabbed. Leaves take a long time to decompose in the warm process of the compost bin. They break down more effectively in a cold process, so put them in loose-weave sacks and put them behind the shed for a year or even two to make a lovely friable leaf mulch for beds and borders. If you don’t have woven leaf sacks to hand, use old compost sacks, with plenty of aeration holes cut in them. This also turns old garden plastic into something useful – we turn them inside out to make them a bit more unobtrusive.
Edge
Winter or summer, edging is one way to really spruce up your lawn. A crisp edge makes it look smart and well-maintained, whatever the season. As summer growth fades, autumn is the perfect time to re-establish edges, as there’s no growth to get in the way and the line of the edge can clearly be seen. Use a half-moon lawn edger to cut a professionally and clean edge to your lawn. If the edge needs substantial re-shaping, use a plank of wood to give a straight line to follow, or mark a curve with string. To help give open lawn edges (that is, not abutting paving or border edging) better stability, aim to cut at an angle of 20 to 40 degrees from the vertical, rather than straight down. And once they’re cut, try to avoid walking on them.
Trim
It might not be quite time for the final mow yet, so keep mowing if your lawn looks in need of it. Do remember to raise your mower blades to a higher cut height for winter. Grass growth is slowing down, and a higher cut is not quite so tough on the lawn. Of course, finding a day when the grass is dry enough to mow becomes a challenge, so it may be useful to trim overgrown areas and edges to keep the lawn look spruce between cuts. Use an edging shear to tidy shaggy edges, or a single-handed grass shear for areas where the mower can’t reach.
These autumn lawn care tasks are really useful for keeping the lawn looking trim over the winter, and of course, the improved drainage will help it to get up and running quickly next year. All ready for a spectacular spring!
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Moss image: John Trentholm/RHS
