After the cold, wet winter months have past us by we start to see some growth the time is now right for our spring lawn care program. This program can give your lawn a head start at the time your lawn needs it most, as we enter the spring and summer months.
Spring lawn care jobs include:
- Treat & kill any moss
- Scarify the lawn to remove the moss
- Over seeding if needed
- Feeding the lawn
Moss control
Once the soil starts to warm up and the grass starts to grow you can go ahead and give the lawn it’s first cut and prepare you lawn for the coming year.
Chances are that there will be some moss in your lawn after the winter months, if this is the case it will need treating and removing.
There are many products on the market available for moss control. Some are granular and others are liquid formulation. Many products such as lawn sand contain some nitrogen, this will help with recovery after the moss has been removed by encouraging some growth.
Which ever product you decide to use it usually takes about 2 weeks for the moss to die.
You can now go ahead and scarify the lawn to remove the dead moss.
Scarifying the lawn to remove moss
Once the moss has been killed it will need to be removed by Lawn scarification.
This task can be completed manually with a spring bok rake (ideal for a small area) or a powered machine such as a lawn scarifier or lawn rake (suitable for larger areas). Scarifying will also help prevent and reduce thatch build up in the lawn
Remove all of the dead moss before moving on to the next task.
Overseeding the lawn
(Skip this section if it does not apply to you) After the moss has been removed the lawn may be left with some bare and thin areas, especially if the moss infestation was very severe.
Ideally these areas will need overseeding to speed up the recovery of the lawn. The bare areas can be raked over to create a seed bed. You can then go ahead and overseed and top dress these weaker areas.
Now you are ready to feed your lawn and if necessary control any weeds that may be present.
Feeding (Fertilising) and weed control in the lawn
The final task of the spring lawn care program is to give the lawn a spring and summer feed and if necessary control any weeds that may be present.
This fertiliser should contain a high percentage of Nitrogen (N) with some additional Phosphate (P) and Potash(K). Various fertiliser products on the market include a selective weed killer (weed & feed) in the mixture. These weed & feed products are ideal if weeds are a problem at the time of application.
However if weeds are not a problem at this stage opt for a normal spring & summer fertiliser and apply a selective weed killer at a later date if necessary. Please visit our weed control page for more information on the application of selective weed killers.