How to maintain your lawn in spring

Spring is the time to give your lawn some help after the long winter months and this handy 8 step spring lawn care guide will show you how! It’s easy to breathe new life into your lawn with the wide range of lawn treatments, tools and seeds available at Homebase. Put in some work now and you can enjoy a healthy, lush lawn through the summer and autumn.

What you'll need:

Step 1: Tidy up your garden

Begin by clearing up any debris, sticks or leaves on your lawn. Use a leaf rake and collect the debris in a garden bag.

Step 2: Cut your grass

If you haven’t cut the grass during the winter, give it its first spring mow when it is about 2-3 inches high. It is important not to cut any more than one third of the current length, so set the blades to high. Through late April and May you can reduce the height gradually, but always sticking to the one third rule.

Step 3: Trim the edges of your lawn

Trimming the edges of your lawn will help to ensure you have crisp lines to clearly show that you care for your lawn. Cut lawn edges with a half-moon edging iron or a garden trimmer to ensure they look neat and well-shaped.

Scarify your lawn to remove moss & thatch

Step 4: Scarify your lawn

Scarifying your lawn will thin out any thatch (dead grass) and remove moss. This will improve water filtration through to the soil, preventing puddling and discouraging diseases. To scarify your lawn gently rake the grass with a lawn rake. Alternatively an electric scarifier will do all of the hard work, you can either buy one or, if you'd rather, you can hire one.

Step 5: Aerate your lawn

Aeration perforates the soil with small holes to allow air, water and nutrients to penetrate to the grass roots. This aids root growth and will help create a healthy lawn. To aerate small lawns you can use a garden fork or manual aerator. Turn it back to front, insert it in the ground and carefully withdraw without wiggling it. Repeat every 2-4 inches.

Dress the lawn with a sprinkling of top soil

Step 6: Tidy up the lawn surface

After aerating, you can either add a top dressing of good quality top soil to further improve drainage, or you can rake the little plugs of soil produced by the aeration across the surface. These plugs are full of good bacteria and will encourage healthy grass growth.

Step 7: Water the grass if needed

Spring usually brings sufficient rainfall to keep your grass watered, but if you do need to water, be sure that the water penetrates to the soil below. Inadequate watering will simply encourage vulnerable roots at the surface. Always water early in the morning or evening to reduce the amount of water lost through evaporation.

Step 8: Use lawn feed

If you have some bare patches then you may want to sow some grass seeds or use a patch repair product. If you're spreading a large area with feed and seed, use a spreader.

Top tips

When you cut the grass during the spring and summer, use a mulching attachment. This cuts the clippings into fine pieces which can then decompose and release nutrients back into your lawn.
At the start of the season sharpen or replace your lawn mower blades and make sure you change the oil.
If you want to create a striped-effect lawn, choose a mower with a rear roller.
If scarifying, mow the lawn first to remove as much grass and debris as possible.
As feeding, weeding and moss removal are all key jobs in spring, the easy option is to tackle them in one hit with a triple action lawn feed applied a few days after the first cut. Don't forget to rake out the black dead moss after treatment.

If you love the feel of a soft, thick lawn between your toes when you’re lounging around in the garden on hot summer afternoons then it’s important that you start your lawn care in early spring. Continuing with regular lawn maintenance throughout the spring will also help if you’re looking to create a hard-wearing family lawn; perfect for the kids to play on all year long without the worry of creating unsightly bare patches in your grass.

You might be dreaming of a lawn that’s beautifully green and pristine so you can wow your friends and family at get-togethers and BBQs… Or maybe ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ is your thing and you just want to create the most stunning lawn on your street! Either way, follow these spring lawn care tips and you’ll be enjoying your lush green lawn throughout the summer and on into autumn.

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How to repair patches in your lawn Patches are common place in busy gardens, particularly in warmer months. Learn how to deal with them with this handy guide from Homebase. Take a look now.

How to create a greener, lusher lawn Get a greener and lusher lawn with five easy but effective steps from Homebase. Create a lawn ready to show off with useful information. Find out more today.