As winter fades and spring approaches it is time to start planning for the new growing season. Your lawn has a tough time during the winter and will be keen to produce new leaves as soon as the weather warms.
So what is the best way to take advantage of the new spring season? After my top tips for the winter, Here are my top tips for early spring. Help your lawn look great as soon as possible.
Four tips to clean your lawn in spring
1: Tidy the lawn.
Winter wind, rain and snow dislodges old wood and twigs from trees. Debris gets blown out of hedges and settles on your lawn. It is a good idea to tidy these twigs, branches and leaves from your lawn before the mowing season starts.
2: Mowing.
If your lawn is long and you have not cut it all winter then it will be beneficial to give it quite a tight mow. Usually, I advocate never mowing your lawn short. Yet, in early spring the grass will have a lot of old leaves and it will be keen to produce new, healthy growth. Cutting these off and giving space for new growth will help your lawn to look lush and green a few weeks later. Be sure to raise your blades again straight afterwards. Cutting your lawn short on a regular basis is very bad for your grass.
3: Spring scarification.
Once the lawn has been mown short it is a good idea to give the lawn a light scarification. In early spring, scarification achieves two things. First, it helps pull out any remaining thatch and debris from the surface of the lawn. This helps the lawn breathe and enables water and fertiliser to get down to the roots quicker. Second, it cuts sideways growth in the grass plants and helps them to stand tall. This will encourage growth of new leaves and help the lawn to thicken. Do not scarify too deep though. A single pass of the scarifier with the blades set so they are only touching the surface is fine. Scarify any deeper and the recovery of the lawn may take many months. It may even need overseeding to recover.
4: Feed the lawn.
As the ground warms the grass will be starting into growth and will be looking or nutrients. Help the grass to find the elements it needs by giving it a good quality spring fertiliser treatment. This will stimulate lush green growth and the lawn will thicken. With all fertilisation treatments, it is better to feed little and often. A slow release fertiliser will do the grass a lot more good than over feeding with nitrogen.
Follow these four simple steps and your lawn will look great for the summer.
What about moss or weeds?
If you have experienced a wet, grey winter, moss may be a problem on your lawn. If there is an ingress of moss, make sure you put down a moss control treatment. Applying it at least a week before your spring cleaning will prevent it from spreading. The grass will then be able to sprout new leaves and get a head start in the race for space in your lawn.
If your lawn has a lot of perennial weeds then I recommend conducting your spring clean first. The weeds will then sprout with vigour and will be more easy to control in a month or so. If you have professional lawn care, then these weeds should not be a problem.
Kris Lord
The Lawn Man
