Autumn Lawn Care

Autumn Lawn Care | Drought affected Lawns

Westland Autumn Lawn Care

Westland Autumn Lawn Care

This summer has been unprecedented for our lawns. Hot temperatures and lack of rain have caused serious stress to our familiar green spaces. All lawns require special care measures during dry weather. When deprived of water, lawn grasses stop growing, start to go brown and continue to stay brown. Especially once the top 10 cm (4”) of soil dries out.

If your lawn has been badly affected by the drought, you may need to over-sow with new lawn seed. September is a good month to do this as the soil is still warm but be aware, you may need to water the lawn seed to make sure it doesn’t dry out.

A well-maintained lawn usually recovers rapidly with the onset of autumn rainfall, especially if the appropriate Autumn Lawn Care is given. A good autumn lawn treatment such as Westland’s Autumn All in One will ensure your grass is fed with a high potash and phosphate fertiliser for the autumn which will strengthen roots and better protect the grass from frost and icy conditions in winter. Any surviving moss will also be killed out.

Additionally, it is important to ensure your lawn is healthy, so a regular programme of spring, summer and autumn lawn maintenance will help your lawn to recover from a summer drought and will also make it more drought resistant the following year.

Here is our summary on autumn lawn care:

De-thatch your lawn:  De-thatching your lawn with a fork or rake to remove any moss, leaves and debris and let the light get to the grass.

Aerate your lawn: Using a garden fork or a manual or power aerator to spike holes into the lawn will improve drainage and reduce moss growth in the future.

Brush in sand: Horticultural grade, dry fine sand brushed into the holes created by aerataion helps prevent them closing up, allowing air and water to pass freely into the root zone.

Level with top soil: Spread top soil oover the surface of the lawn to level out any hollows. Grass can be left to grow through or where the soil is deep, over sow with fresh grass seed.

Feed: Apply a fertiliser or all-in-one feed in the spring and autumn to help the grass grow.

Cut Regularly: Regularly cutting your lawn helps keep it looking good. Weeds don’t like being cut but grass benefits from it, so by cutting regularly to will naturally give the grass an advantage over the weeds. However, if you want to encourage wild flowers or create a meadow, leave the grass to grow naturally.

Water:  If you have a plentiful supply of water and there is no hosepipe ban in your area, then watering your lawn will keep it growing well.  “Grey” water can be used from baths or collect rain water in water butts to use on the lawn. To minimize evaporation, give your lawn a good soaking either first thing in the morning, evening or even at night.

Weed Control: As mentioned above, many weeds can be controlled by cutting your lawn regularly as weeds do not like this, whereas grass does. Dig up deep rooted weeds such as dandelions or use weedkillers or all-in-one applications to control them.  Do not use weedkillers on drought-affected lawns until they have recovered sufficiently.

Rake: Keep leaves off the lawn by raking them up regularly to ensure light gets to the grass.

For more advice, please ask a member of our staff who will be happy to help.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Roger Eavis
roger@greenshutters.co.uk