6 Lawn Care Jobs To Do This Spring
Spring is an important time in the lawn care calendar. In order to help your lawn recover from the stresses of winter you’ll need to give it a bit of TLC. If you get your lawn care jobs done in spring, it’ll look fantastic heading into the summer.
When to Start Spring Lawn Care
For most of us in the UK, spring starts in April. Every so often we might experience a mild February or March and the temptation might be to start early. However, it’s common for these mild breaks in the weather to be followed by cold, wintry snaps later on. March is still too early for most spring jobs. That said, you can often get a head start by giving the lawn a topping with the mower and applying a moss killer.
Here are 6 of the most important lawn care jobs to tackle this spring;
1) Start Mowing
Cutting the grass is the most important part of caring for your lawn. So mow regularly while the grass is growing, this means at least once a week and if growth is particularly strong, once every 5 days. Never cut off more than a third of the grass leaf each time you mow. If you remove too much at all once you’ll weaken the grass.
The first couple of times you mow, keep your lawn mower set quite high. Then if you like a shorter cut, gradually reduce the height each time you mow.
©Thompson & Morgan – Cutting the grass is the most important part of caring for your lawn.
It’s also a good idea to tidy up the edges of your lawn. If they need re-cutting, use a half-moon edging iron. For Once established, edges can be maintained by trimming with a pair of lawn edging shears. For a professional looking finish, you can install a permanent lawn edging.
2) Kill & Remove Moss
Moss and weeds are a common problem in spring and will completely ruin the look of your lawn. Apply a dose of moss killer like Iron Sulphate and watch as the moss dies and turns black over the best week.
Once all the moss hast turned black, rake it out. You can use a springbok rake but a powered lawn rake will make the job much easier.
3) Kill Any Weeds
Weeds can be a real problem in spring. If your lawn is full of weeds, apply a weed killer to the whole area. Make sure it’s a ‘selective’ weed killer which is safe to spray on lawns, otherwise you’ll kill the grass too. Use a spot spray weed killer if you only have one or two weeds.
©Shutterstock – Use a ‘selective’ weed killer which is safe to spray on lawns, otherwise you’ll kill the grass too!
4) Aerate to Relieve Soil Compaction
Spring is the perfect time to aerate your lawn, either by spiking with a garden fork or hollow tining with a dedicated tool. This improves drainage and also allows air and nutrients to penetrate the soil. If the soil in your lawn is in fairly good condition, spiking with a fork or aerator sandals will be perfect.
However, if the soil is compacted, aerate with a hollow tiner. This will remove cores of turf from the sward and create hundreds of holes.
This will give the soil particles in your lawn room to ‘relax’ into, improving drainage and the penetration of oxygen and nutrients.
5) Overseed to Fill in Any Bare Patches
The removal of moss can leave your lawn looking quite sparse as the grass will have thinned out. If the problem was particularly bad you could have bald patches where there is no grass at all.
In order to fill those patches in you’ll need to overseed your lawn with new grass seed. As the new grass germinates you’ll see you lawn become thicker and denser. By the time summer arrives, your lawn will have fully recovered.
©Shutterstock – Fill bare patches by overseeding your lawn with new grass seed.
6) Apply a Spring Lawn Feed
After a long winter, your lawn can come into the spring lacking in nutrients. It’s important to replace them in order to support new growth and healthy root development. After applying a spring feed you’ll see growth quicken and the grass grow greener.
We hope this article has helped you with tips on sprucing up your lawn. For more advice, visit our helpful lawn care hub – full of additional maintenance tips & gardening guides.
Having loved spending time in the garden with his grandad as a child, Ben Doyle was always destined to be a gardener.
Having left university with degrees in horticulture and sports turf science, he developed a loved for lawn care and shares his knowledge on his personal blog, GardenSeeker.com