Getting the lawn ready for summer

Getting the lawn ready for summer- lawn care tips

Lawn care in May

Now we are firmly on the way to summer and safely (we hope) out of the frosts; May is the month to get the lawn ready for its summer glory. If the weather scuppered your lawn care last month, there is still plenty of time to fertilise the lawn and apply a high quality spring lawn feed (we have some suitable feeds for sale in both our Exeter garden centres).

Now is also the time to repair any lawn bald patches, edges and thin areas. Repairing these patches will not only make a huge difference to the eye, but it will help lawn health and reduce weed germination. To repair patches either sow seed or buy some turf. For optimum growth and recovery do this before the end of the month. For an all over patchy or sparse lawn it may be advisable to look at fully re-laying the lawn or starting a complete lawn maintenance programme. We have a great selection of turf in our stores, and our experts will be able to advise you on which turf is best for you and how to care for it.

Routine care

Regular lawn mowing is a must, with several health benefits for the grass. How much and how regularly you cut the lawn depends on what work you have done to it recently. For freshly sown lawns or meadows of wildflower, we recommend to wait roughly six weeks after sowing before mowing.

Aeration

Another technique that you can now start to incorporate into your lawn maintenance is aeration. Although it is too late in the year to begin slitting the lawn, it is a great time to use some kind of aerator, be it special studded sandals or a rolling aerator. Aeration can in fact enable the lawn to use rain showers more efficiently and prevent water logging; it can also keep the grass nice and green for longer. If this is too much of a job on your lawn, it could be useful to simply aerate the areas that get a lot of use, such as a pathway, with a garden fork.