Top 7 lawn care tips

1. Mow your lawn in spring

Once the spring grass has started to grow, it’s time to get the mower out. To avoid stressing the grass, mow your lawn with the mower on its highest setting, aiming to cut off no more than one-third of the grass blade length. Once the lawn has put on more growth you can mow on a lower setting, but keep to the one-third rule so that the grass always has plenty of leaf length left, allowing it make food through photosynthesis.

Initially you may only need to mow your lawn once a fortnight. Gradually increase the frequency of mowing as the rate of growth increases through spring and summer.

Don’t mow your lawn if the grass is wet or frozen, as this will damage the grass blades. Walking on wet lawns will also compact the soil, causing drainage problems and making it harder for grass to grow well.

3. Get rid of lawn weeds and moss

It’s not just the grass that starts to grow in spring – weeds do too! To get rid of lawn weeds and moss in spring, first scarify the lawn by raking over it with a spring tine rake or by using a mechanical scarifier. As well as removing moss, this gets rid of thatch, a layer of dead grass that gradually accumulates around the base of the lawn and can stop water and lawn food getting into the soil where it’s needed.

Use a lawn weedkiller on weeds like dandelions and plantains or alternatively, use a combined weed, feed and moss-killing product like Miracle-Gro Complete 4 in 1, which feeds the lawn as well as dealing with moss and weeds. Once the moss has died and turned black, it can be raked out and the bare patches can be re-seeded – check the manufacturer’s instructions on how long to wait before sowing seed in these areas.

4. Aerate your lawn 

All the walking, running and general wear that happens on our lawns gradually compacts the soil. This causes poor drainage, reducing the amount of oxygen available to grass roots, and as a result the grass can struggle to grow. Aerating the soil is an excellent spring lawn treatment, helping to reduce compaction.  For small lawns, you can do this with a garden fork. Simply insert the tines of the fork about 3-4 inches into the ground and then lean gently on the handle so that the ground around the tines lifts very slightly. Work your way around the garden pressing the fork into the ground at regular intervals so that you cover the whole lawn. For large lawns, use a mechanical aerator.

6. Overseed your lawn

After winter, lawns can often look rather tired and sparse. Overseeding lawns with new lawn seed in spring helps to get them looking lush and green again. Overseeding also helps to fill in bare patches caused by moss removal.

NB: If you’ve used a lawn fertiliser or a weed feed and moss killing preparation on your lawn, you may need to wait several weeks before sowing seed in these areas. Check the product packaging for more information on timings.

How to overseed a lawn in spring

• If you haven’t already mowed the lawn, do it before overseeding.
• Aerate the soil with a garden fork, hollow tine aerator or mechanical aerator to break up any compacted areas.
• Scarify the lawn with a spring tine rake or mechanical scarifier to get rid of thatch and break up the soil surface.
• Scatter lawn seed, following the manufacturer’s instructions on quantities. For even coverage over the area, scatter the seed in two passes at right angles to each other.
• Rake over the seeded area to make sure the seed is in good contact with the soil surface.
• If no rain is forecast, water daily for 4-6 weeks.

7. Apply a spring lawn feed

After a long winter, spring is an ideal time to feed your lawn to give it a boost and get it growing. Spring lawn feeds are high in nitrogen to promote lush growth, and will release their nutrients into the soil gradually over several months. To avoid burning the grass, the best time to apply spring lawn feed is just before rain is forecast and you should always follow the instructions found back of the packaging. If there’s no rain due, water the lawn thoroughly after applying fertiliser.