Garden and Green

Autumn Garden Lawn Care Advice

Our friends at Q Lawns have provided more sage advice with a new article for lawn owners looking to sort out their grass issues this autumn!

11th September, 2008

During the summer months you will hopefully have enjoyed your lawn having barbeques and football games between the rain showers but as it now gets towards autumn you need to start thinking about looking after your lawn to prepare it for next year. It can be extremely frustrating trying to find good advice on autumn maintenance so here is some tips to help you achieve your dream lawn and become the envy of your neighbours.

Mowing has been a nightmare this summer, frequent rain showers have meant that the grass is often too wet to get the mower out and for those of us who haven’t got a grass collector on the mower, great clods of clippings have been sat on the lawn creating yellow patches before the dogs bring them indoors on their feet and tread them into the carpet. However, on a brighter note, it is better to leave the lawn a bit longer during summer months. The more leaf growth there is, the more the roots grow and develop so provided that the rain hasn’t washed all the nutrients out of your soil, your grass should be in pretty good condition.

Do try if you can, to get the grass down to about 2.5 or 3cm long though before about the end of September. Over-lush growth in the autumn will provide the perfect conditions for fungal diseases such as fusarium patch to develop. Fusarium won’t kill the lawn, but it doesn’t look pretty and it will weaken it the sward allowing weeds to move in.

If you lawn has been looking particularly sickly or yellow then it’s definitely time to check your drainage, aerate if necessary (by pushing a garden fork as far as you can into the lawn to make lots of little holes) and to feed the grass. If you don’t carry out any other lawn maintenance in autumn make sure you fertilise. You may not think your lawn does much during the winter time but believe me, the plants are busy gearing themselves up for spring. Feeding your lawn will stimulate root growth, encourage winter hardiness and help disease resistance….it’s just like people taking vitamins and minerals to help themselves stay healthy.

When selecting fertiliser make sure you opt for a specialised Autumn/Winter lawn feed as this contains a lower rate of nitrogen than the summer feeds. Applying Nitrogen at this time of year will encourage lush growth that could weaken the grass and make it more prone to diseases. Q Lawns Turf Growers have 5 tubs of Nutrifusion Autumn and Winter Lawn Feed to give away on the Green and Garden web site. Follow the link at the end of this article to enter the prize draw. NutriFusion is a granular fertiliser that is easily applied by hand or with a spreader. Simply work out the area of your lawn and spread evenly using between 20-30g a square metre depending on your soil type.

With cool damp conditions you might find that moss will start appearing in your lawn. Applying a proprietary moss killer will help and once the moss has turned black simply rake it out by hand. The same weather that encourages moss, also brings earthworms to the surface of the lawn. Worms are great! They’re an indicator that you have healthy soil but if you really don’t like worm casts, you simply need to wait for a dry day and then sweep them off with a stiff brush. Truly dedicated gardeners collect them up and use them in the greenhouse as a growing medium – the really fine soil is fabulous for starting seeds off.

Remove any autumn leaves that fall onto the lawn – they’ll cut off light and suffocate the grass leaving you with yukky bald patches come the spring. If you pack fallen leaves into their very own compost bin, they’ll rot down over time to create a fabulous soil conditioner that will make an excellent mulch for pots and planters

Autumn is also the best time to re seed worn areas or to over seed the whole lawn but for instant refurbishment, lay a new lawn from turf – milder temperatures and damp weather conditions will help establish turf quickly.

After you have completed all of these autumn chores its time to congratulate yourself and look forward to the lawn you will have in spring from carrying out these simple tasks. For more information about Q Lawns products for autumn lawn care or advice please either visit the website www.qlawns.co.uk , email sales@qlawns.co.uk or call Hannah or Angela on 01842 828266.