Although the autumn weather may discourage you from spending time outside, it’s actually the perfect time to get ahead with garden maintenance. Gardening expert Ish urged gardeners in a recent TikTok video to carry out one very important task now to ensure that your lawns will remain “perfect” throughout the autumn and winter months.
Ish explained that to maintain a lush-looking garden lawn, you need to focus your attention on the ground itself, not just the grass. He said: “A good lawn needs a decent airflow and drainage. And if it’s water-logged and compressed, the roots don’t do very well, and as a result, you don’t get good grass.”
It’s not all about mowing the grass to keep the lawn in good shape, but the ground underneath. An easy way to get air and moisture into the grounding is by scarification.
To prep the ground, you can use an aerator, scarifier, or even a garden fork. This is used to poke holes directly into the soil to help the water drain in.
Scarifying works by using rotating blades on a machine to cut into the lawn, removing layers of dead grass, moss, and debris, and stimulating grass growth. It will also help to improve the airflow into the ground.
Ish explained that this step will help set you up for overseeding as well. However, don’t worry if you notice clumps of grass forming after, known as thatch.
Scarifying is a lawn care process of using mechanical blades or tines to cut into and remove a dense layer of thatch – dead grass, roots, and organic matter – from a lawn. By thinning this out and removing it, it improves the lawn’s health by allowing better airflow, water, and nutrient penetration to the soil by removing any competition for the soil.
B&Q advises giving your lawn a good amount of water to help the soil absorb moisture. It also explains that the best time to aerate the lawn is one or two days after a rain shower, while the soil is moist.
However, it’s best to avoid aerating lawns after “extremely” heavy rainfall, as the ground could become waterlogged. Once the lawn is scarified and aerated, you can add plenty of an autumn grass seed, which is higher in phosphorus.
This feed is focused on root development, rather than feeds which are higher in nitrogen, which is focused on the growth of the grass.