After several months of bitterly cold weather, with snow, ice and howling winds, conditions are finally starting to brighten up.
Woolly hats and winter thermals can soon be retired to the wardrobe for another year as temperatures gradually warm up in time for the start of spring next month.
With the change of seasons approaching, it means gardeners will soon have lots more jobs to do in the garden, but there is one important task to take care of before spring arrives.
Gardening experts recommended mowing your lawn in February to help prepare it for the new season, as this will help it to grow back thicker and stronger.
Perfect Lawn Care explains: “As a general rule your first grass cut of the year should be in early Spring. Depending on weather and temperatures at the particular time, the last week in February or the first week in March is a great time to start.
“Aim to make the first mow just before the weather starts to warm up, keeping the mower blades high just take the tops off of the grass. This will stimulate the grass to grow and encourage it to thicken up, helping to keep out weeds and moss.”
During February, grass is still in a dormant state so it’s important to keep the leaves as long as possible to give it more surface areas to absorb sunlight, so gardeners are advised to keep the blade height of lawn mowers at the highest setting to avoid cutting your lawn too short.
Premier Lawns adds: “If you need to cut your lawn in winter, please raise the cutting blade a little higher than usual. NEVER remove more than one third of the grass blades in one go.
“Remember that the leaves on a grass plant are there to harvest energy from the sun and keep the plant alive. Winter days are short and the sun’s rays are weak. The larger the surface area of a plant’s leaves, the more sunshine it can harvest. So for winter lawns, longer is better.”
Gardeners should avoid mowing if the ground is still too wet, but if conditions are dry then it’s worth just removing the top blades of grass to encourage new, healthy growth.
Experts also advise aerating your lawn with a garden fork in February to help improve drainage, allowing more air, water and nutrients to soak into the soil.
However, this task should only be carried out if there is no frost on the ground and the soil is not frozen, otherwise lawns could become damaged.
