Caring for your lawn in autumn

Early autumn is the perfect time to put effort into your lawn, so that come spring and summer, you’ll see that hardwork pay off. There are a few steps, which makes autumn the time to get serious about your lawncare.

Dethatch or scarify

There’s a layer of dense, spongy thatch that spreads throughout lawns, made up of tightly interwoven stems, leaves, and roots. Left to get out of control and starve your lawn, and encourage insects and diseases.

There are products out there that you can spray on your lawn, that encourage the break down of the thatch. Otherwise, rake it manually or in excessive cases, get yourself a scarifier to work through that tight thatch layer.

Clear leaves and debris

Make sure you’re raking up or blowing off those leaves. Add them to your compost! 

Aerate

Aerating your lawn increases the oxygen flow to the roots and improves drainage in the winter. Push a garden fork down about 100mm into the soil and gently pull back on the handle to open up the hole. Do this to your whole lawn, or just the most compacted areas. Aerating will also encourage worms to do their thing, redistributing nutrients and increasing natural aeration.

Get rid of weeds

Spraying your lawn with weed killers in autumn means a lot less weeds growing in spring. Depending on the size of the job, you may want to invest in a powered backpack sprayer, which will give you ultimate comfort and efficiency when spraying.

Fertilise

Spray your lawn with the nutrients it needs to take advantage of autumn and withstand the winter.

Oversow

Spreading extra grass seed in early autumn, means it has all winter to establish, looking lush and full in the spring. For a more even distribution, a manual spreader is the way to go. If your lawn only needs a patch oversown here and there, hand spreading is sufficient.

Mowing

From late autumn, set your mower height a couple notches higher for a longer lawn length in the cooler months.

Any questions? We love lending a helping hand so get in touch with the team at Solo NZ.