Repairing Your Lawn This Spring

With the arrival of February, people can't help but look to the future and anticipate the warm, sunny days of spring. Of course, winter weather takes a toll on turf grass and many lawns require a good amount of work when the season begins. Fortunately, there are many jobs that can be done in order to help bring lawns back to life during this time.

Why does winter have an affect on grass?

Winter can be a hard time for grass as a result of the low temperatures and reduced amount of light especially in shady areas. From these conditions, grass may end up thinning out and dying in certain areas leaving bare patches of ground that would need to be reseeded.  

If the winter we have experienced has been cold and dry but still with a good amount of light then damage to the turf will be considerably less than if the winter is a wet and cloudy one due to the damage that would be caused from low light conditions and excess water from rainfall.  

On top of all this, moss is a constant threat throughout the cooler months so one that would need to be taken care of. Moss thrives in cool and damp conditions making this time of year ideal for it to spread through lawns. 

What is the best way to resolve these issues?

There are a few steps that can be followed to help get your lawn back to its usual summer beauty. Here is what we would recommend to complete for your early spring lawn repairs:

1. While conditions are dry, rake and scarify the lawn to remove any moss, thatch and other debris that may be lying around
2. When the frosts have passed and things are looking as though they are starting to warm up, overseed the entire turfed area. We recommend overseeding the entire area so that the new grass seed blends well with the grass that is already there. Ideally you are going to want soil temperatures to be around 8 - 12 degrees before you start sowing any of our grass seeds.
   
3. Use an appropriate fertiliser - we would recommend our A1 Lawn Ultimate Spring Summer Fertiliser 10-4-4+3fe. 
   
4. When applying seed and fertiliser it is important to remember to water them both in well
   

What seed is best to use?

If you haven't seen this sort of damage before with your lawn in previous years, then it is worth getting a grass seed that suits your ordinary conditions whether that be a grass seed that is needed to be hard wearing or one that is suitable for use on a sports field.  

The time for looking into finding a different grass seed is if you are having the above issues on a regular occurrence and you have issues with buildings / fences blocking sun light from getting to growing grass. In a situation like this we would recommend AM Pro 9 Shade and Drought Grass Seed.