As the days get warmer and brighter you may be wondering how to fix your lawn. Whether it’s looking sparse, full of weeds or simply lacklustre after winter, there’s plenty that can be done to revive damaged grass before summer. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, gardening experts shared the most important habits to start now.
Spring is the perfect season to make a start on fixing your garden lawn, regardless of the issue.
Raking leaves, weeding and aerating waterlogged soil are all effective tasks to get you started, but there’s more that can be done for the best results.
One of which is to sow fresh seed and secure vigorous new growth as the weather warms up.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Steve Williams, managing director at Mowers Online said: “Last year most of our lawns suffered so knowing how to now seed a lawn is important.”
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Before doing this, Steve recommended mowing the lawn back to about one inch tall before raking over it to open up the soil beneath.
After this, you should over seed at half the recommended rate for bare soil and water immediately.
While water is one of the most important elements for quick germination, the Mowers Online expert noted that fertiliser is also essential.
He said: “This time, a high-nitrogen fertiliser is recommended.”
This is ideal for “demand feeding” in areas that need more nutrients – particularly damaged or sparse patches.
Ideally, fertiliser should be spread across your garden grass soon after mowing to improve absorbency.
Even if you don’t cut the lawn before feeding, you should allow at least three days for it to sit after application.
After this point, you can mow the grass as usual.
Feeding your existing grass with fertiliser is recommended by most experts, though Steve noted that it’s not the only ingredient you can use.
He explained: “Fertilisers are great, but nothing beats mulching and composting. Any organic waste from winter can be recycled in a compost bin to be returned to the lawn area lawn as a natural fertiliser by raking it over the top.
“Another way to improve the ground and encourage germination is to use a mulching mower which is a type of rotary mower that chops up the clippings very finely and deposits them back into the turf. The clippings are barely visible and return nutrients back to the root zone.
“In addition to lawn envy and aesthetics, striping your lawn encourages healthy grass growth. Mowing in one direction too often can cause taller grass to bend and shield the grass below from the sun, which over time could hinder growth.”
