Autumn Lawn Care – Our Top 5 Tips

With autumn approaching, you might have some concerns about how the colder weather, wetter ground or increased number of autumnal flora and fauna is going to affect your lawn. That’s why we thought it would be great to put out some of our top tips for lawn care this autumn period. These tips will guarantee your lawn will stay green and healthy throughout autumn and ensure it will come bouncing back come spring. 

So how do you care for your lawn over autumn? For the best results with autumn lawn care, remember to remove thatch by scarifying your lawn. You also want to aerate, cut back unwanted edges, repair damage and apply feed. These simple steps will put your lawn in a position to handle harsh weather conditions and allow it to flourish in spring. 

Join the My Lawn Team as we give you the rundown of our 5 top tips for autumn lawn care and maintenance.

Autumn Lawn Care – Why Is It Important? 

Looking after your lawn in autumn is tricky. For the most part, the weather and dampness underfoot are enough to turn off most amateur gardeners from venturing outside between the months of September and December. However, with My Lawn’s top tips for caring for your lawn this autumn, you can break down these tasks into simple steps. This allows even fair-weather gardeners the opportunity to get out into their gardens this autumn, and not only allow their lawns to live through the cold snaps but to thrive during this period. 

With that in mind, here are our top 5 tips to get your lawn looking its best.

How Often Should I Aerate My Lawn?

How often you aerate your lawn will depend on multiple factors including, your soil type. If the soil is hard or clay, aerating twice a year is recommended to allow for better drainage and nutrient absorption.

Otherwise, aerating your lawn once a year is usually enough to keep your lawn in optimum health. However, remember that overseeding, scarification and other treatments all work hand in hand to keep your lawn fresh and healthy.

Tip 1. Scarify Your Lawn

Scarification is a great way to remove unwanted thatch from your lawn. Thatch is any unwanted debris or build-up that might accumulate on the top layer of your lawn.

Removing this build-up will allow your lawn to have better access to nutrients and light by removing any unwanted competition such as moss or other organic materials. Making sure your lawn has little competition during the cold months.

Scarification during autumn benefits your lawn in multiple ways, however, it can be difficult work. We recommend that you take regular breaks when you are scarifying your lawn, and don’t dethatch more than once a season. This will allow the new growth from your lawn enough time to develop.

For everything related to scarifying your lawn this autumn, why not check out our Professional Scarification page? 

My Lawn has experience with scarifying over 1000 UK lawns. Our fully qualified team of professional lawn care experts can scarify your lawn this autumn, making sure it will make it through the winter months in the best possible health. 

Tip 2. Aerate Your Lawn Thoroughly

Lawn aeration involves making small holes in your lawn to allow water, air, and nutrients to reach the roots of the grass, resulting in healthy growth. It is the most effective way to reduce soil compaction and sub-surface thatch in lawns. Signs that your lawn needs aeration include hard soil, waterlogging after rain, and noticing spongy grass underfoot.

Aerating your lawn in autumn is recommended as the soil is damp, but not frozen over. Aerating in autumn is ideal for rainy periods too. This is because you are essentially increasing the surface area of your lawn and creating many new areas where possible damp patches can drain away.

My Lawn offers a Hollow Tine Aeration Process, where we use a motorised Hollow Tine Aerator to make sure that your lawn gets fully aerated at a fraction of the speed it can be done by hand (or foot!). For assistance with your lawn aeration, why not contact My Lawn through our contact page? We’ll get back to you at a time that suits you, and we can offer advice over the phone if you have any questions about lawn aeration. 

Tip 3. Cut Back Any Unwanted Edges

If you want to maintain a perfect lawn, you will already be familiar with cutting back edges. However, what most common gardeners don’t realise is just how much of an impact regularly cutting back edges can have on the lawn’s health. 

In the dormant months of autumn and winter, grass will continue to grow during mild spells. Since you likely won’t be mowing your lawn between December and March, use this time to redefine your lawn’s edges.

Don’t forget to pick up your trimmings! One thing we see time and time again is people leaving the cutback, unwanted edges in the beds. Either compost them or allow them to be removed by the My Lawn team.  

Tip 4. Apply an Autumn Lawn Treatment

Lawns usually recover well after summer wear and tear or drought without feeding. However, if you need to give your lawn a boost, you can apply autumn lawn feed that encourages root growth through autumn/winter. 

Choose a formula specifically for the autumn application. When applying fertiliser, use the specified amount per square meter just before forecasted rain. Spread it evenly or use a lawn-feed spreader calibrated for the correct application rate. If it does not rain in a day or so, apply a small amount of water yourself. 

For up to 5 lawn treatments a year, why not let the skilled team at My Lawn apply their green thumbs to your garden this autumn, and beyond?

Seasonal Law Treatments

Remember, do not feed a lawn where you want wild plants to grow. Some autumn treatments may cause unnecessary competition between weeds and wildflowers. 

Tip 5. Repair Damage

Autumn is a great time to start repairing potential damage that might have occurred to your lawn over the busy summer months. 

If your lawn has been damaged by children, pets, or neglect and has become uneven, consider flattening it to prevent flooding during winter rain. Use a half-moon edging iron or spade to level bumpy areas. Then, aerate the soil with a fork, and re-lay the turf level to the rest of the lawn. Repeat as necessary until your entire lawn is level.

During summer, heavily trafficked lawn areas become compacted and need forking to improve drainage. Your garden fork should only penetrate 4-6 inches for proper aeration. Once you have conditioned the used sections of your lawn, try not to tread over this section for a few days as the soil underfoot may still be settling.

Other Tips for Autumn Lawn Care

Don’t Compact Your Wet Lawn! 

Redefining lawn edges is often a good job to do during the quieter winter months. However, if your soil sits wet over winter it’s best to wait until it dries out, to avoid compacting the soil and damaging your lawn. If the soil is only slightly wet, working off a wooden board will reduce compaction. 

When to Scarify My Lawn – Autumn vs. Spring

When scarifying your lawn, you want to avoid damaging your lawn at all costs. To help conserve your lawn, we recommend that you don’t scarify your lawn more than twice every year. Spring is perfect, but autumn is also a great time to scarify. As long as you carry out the scarification before the first frosts when the ground is moist to touch, then you won’t cause any damage to your lawn. 

Do You Have To Use an Autumn Lawn Treatment?

Yes. We strongly recommend using an autumn lawn treatment during this period, as opposed to a summer or spring treatment. This is because autumn treatments are made to benefit the roots of the grass, whereas summer or spring treatments encourage top growth.

Autumn lawn fertiliser contains high levels of potash and phosphates, which provide protection against frost and icy conditions. For our recommended autumn lawn feeding, we suggest most of our customers use fertilisers with high nitrogen levels during spring and summer. This encourages top growth that is soft and susceptible to frost damage.

Get Seasonal Lawn Care and Treatments with My Lawn

If you want the best out of your lawn, and you are local to Cheshire, Merseyside, and Northern Wales, then why not contact the professionals? Most of our services can be applied on the same day, meaning that we get the best out of your lawn in one quick visit. 
If you are looking to get the best out of your lawn this autumn, then contact My Lawn through the contact form below, or call us on 01829 309169.