You may have noticed a slow down of growth in the lawn, making life a little easier. Already we are seeing a change in leaf colour indicating autumn will soon be upon us and that also indicates we are approaching the time when we want to carry out our end of season maintenance in the lawn. Aeration in the autumn by pushing a garden fork in to the lawn can help the drainage of the garden and if your soil is particularly wet applying some coarse sand to the area will help water move away from the surface. A lot of our natural soils are clay soil and sometimes we refer to them as ‘cold soils’ therefore it is better to work on them when there is still a little growth that will help them recover before the winter months. We hope we have some good deep frosts that helps water away from the surface and if frosts occur following wet weather and freezes this leads to the ground breaking up the compacted soil allowing roots to grow deeper and thicker and this in turns produces a better turf on the surface. If moss has become a problem then now is the time to tackle it and be prepared for some follow up work 2 weeks after applying a balanced fertiliser with iron (ferrous sulphate). Correct application of this product is important to avoid scorching areas of the lawn. A simple hand held spreader is available now that makes applying the product easier and accurately or alternatively wheeled drop spreaders are available. Application in light rain helps the product to soak in to the moss and will turn black in a few days. The moss should be raked out 10-14 days after application by a springbok rake or a scarifying machine, doing this will reduce the likelihood of the moss spreading again. Moss is a sign of another problem, possibly poor drainage or mowing the lawn too short. It is always important to protect the growth of the grass at this time of year by reducing no more than one third of the grass length during mowing. This allows the grass to stay strong and avoids scalping that can lead to moss. Once the moss has been removed it may be necessary to go over the lawn with a little grass seed, this will help to fill areas where the moss had crowded the grass out. Autumn is a good time to apply grass seed as the soil should still be warm enough for the seed to germinate and reduced mowing allows new young grass to establish before winter. It may be necessary to apply a further application of fertiliser later in the autumn, a balanced fertiliser application that is not too high in nitrogen will help see the lawn through the winter months.

Paul Brannan