Autumn lawn care: what you should be doing now

Achieving a healthy-looking lawn takes a little investment at this time of year but will pay dividends come the spring, says Anne Synnott, Plants Manager at Arboretum Kilquade.

September into October is a good time of year for grass care as the soil temperature is still high allowing grass growth and seed growth in the case of reseeding. This is particularly the case this year, as we had an extremely hot first week of September. A second factor is the fact that there is more rainfall at this time of year, which is necessary for nutrient absorption. Together, these two factors make September-October the perfect time to apply fertilisers and to sow new grass seed. Here are Anne’s steps to lawn perfection:

Scarify: Anne recommends starting by scarifying the lawn, which means vigorously raking it to reduce the layers of thatch. Thatch is all the debris like dead grass and old moss that collects in the lawn and can prevent water and fertiliser from penetrating the roots of the grass. There are a number of different scarifying tools available such as rakes and grubbers.

Re-shape: Use a strimmer or garden shears or this back-saving edging tool to trim overgrown grass along the fringes or cut sharp new edges using a half-moon edger.

Repair patches: First remove dead grass, raking to scratch the surface, and apply the grass seed (there are lots of grass-seed mixes available for all situations). You can also mix grass seed with top dressing (see below).

Aerate: Over a summer of use, your lawn has most likely become compacted. Use a garden fork or, better still, a hollow tine tool, as each tine (prong) removes a core of earth creating space for air, water and nutrients to circulate around the grass roots. If you apply top dressing, sweep it into these columns and it will reach greater depths.

Mow and top dress: After scarifying and aerating, it’s the perfect time to add top dressing to the lawn, but first mow it short. Top dressing is a multi-purpose product that really is a treat for the lawn. It fills in any hollows but it also improves the soil and encourages root growth therefore improving the resilience of the grass. It also helps to dilute the thatch layers, assisting in their natural breakdown and preventing them from building up. You can buy a bag of ready-to-use top dressing or make your own by mixing quality topsoil and horticultural sand – increase the ratio of sand if your lawn tends to hold water. You can include grass seed at a lower ratio into this mix too. If it doesn’t rain within 24 hours of applying the top dressing, you will need to water it in.

Fertilise: Apply fertiliser suitable for Autumn like Aftercut All in One Autumn. This will give the lawn a great boost for the coming winter so that it stays strong and healthy. Water in the fertiliser if it hasn’t rained within 24 hours of applying it. Just a word of warning that if heavy rainfall is forecast, it’s best not to fertilise the lawn as the rain will just wash away the nutrients.

Now take a well-earned break. You’ll probably need to mow the lawn a few more times before the grass becomes dormant for the winter, but the hard work is done and you can look forward to a lovely, verdant lawn through winter into spring.