Weston's Baytree Garden Centre offers advice on what to do with your lawn
In his latest column, Baytree Garden Centre's Mark Cox discusses what to do with your lawn...
Our world has changed virtually overnight - and we are all slowly coming to terms with the new normal. With the passing of our Queen, a new era begins - much as can be seen with the changing of the seasons as one passes another comes into focus.
13 years ago to this day my daughter was born and, if Harry Enfield is to be believed, it’s all downhill for me now. As much as we may wish we could turn the clock back we understand to do so would be to deny the splendour of what is to come.
It’s the ‘what is to come’ that I’m focusing on today as I endeavour to get my lawn ready for the autumn ahead - and to ensure that it is in the best possible condition to endure the cold winter so that it ultimately returns in the spring lusher and more verdant than ever before.
Fear not though, I’m not going to spend the entire day of my teenage daughter’s birthday in the garden, I’m only planning on working for about an hour as the first stage of my plan is to simply go over the lawn with a mower to tidy it up a bit.
I have used the same product called Aftercut Autumn All in One Weed and Feed for a number of years now as I find it so simple to use and you can see real benefits in the spring.
As I said, the first step was to mow the lawn. The second step is to wait a couple of days before applying the product. It’s best to apply the feed to a dry-ish lawn by sprinkling it either by hand or by machine to the surface of the lawn.
I prefer to do this by hand; you are aiming to spread 35g of product of per metre squared. A handful is normally about 35g. With this product I do like to wear a glove just for protection.
The iron in the formulation will help to kill the moss in your lawn which, in turn, means the grass has less competition and can dominate the area. The potassium in the product is taken down into the roots and helps the grass store energy through the winter.
At this time of the year I don’t bother to water the product in because, let’s face it, if it’s not raining generally then it’s about to. However, if it has not rained after 48 hours then you’ll have to water it in by hand. Until it has been absorbed, do not allow pets onto the lawn.
About seven days after watering in you’ll be able to notice a real difference in the appearance of your lawn and it’s at this point that I’ll take my rake from the shed and scarify the lawn which is the process of removing dead moss and thatch. It will look like you’ve destroyed your lawn after doing this so please do not worry, it’s normal.
The final stage is to take a garden fork and to aerate the soil. Don’t worry, it’s a fancy name for just pressing the tines of the fork into the soil to a depth of about six inches which you repeat all over the lawn leaving about 12 inches between each neat set of holes. These holes will allow any rainfall and nutrients to be transported directly to the lawns roots.
There we have it, another job ticked off the to do list.
Instead of taking my daughter out for her birthday as in previous years she’s going out instead with her friends for a girly shopping trip. I’m not cool enough to be seen with her now and, on reflection, that is just how it should be.
