by Sammy Stein

Created on: March 17, 2008

Spring for the lawn, just as for other plants, is the time when it awakes from a period of dormancy and begins to grow.

A lawn is made up of thousands and thousands of individual grass plants and for successful growth they need to have adequate light, water and not too much competition from other plants including weeds. They must also have enough vigor so they can withstand some wear and tear and be resistant to diseases.

Spring can be the time to invigorate your lawn and kick-start it into a period of lush, strong growth so it can survive the worst time of the year and continue to provide a green, deep sward for many years.

When the grass begins to grow, give it a light roll using either a garden roller or the mower with the blades raised. This will push any small stones which have come to the surface down and also encourage side shoots (tillering). When the grass reaches 5cm in height you can give it its first proper mow. Aim to take just the tips of the grass plants off, so set the blades high for this first mow. This will encourage fresh growth and avoid scalping the newly growing plants.

Check your lawn for any areas where there is poor coverage and re-seed using the right mix for the site. Clear the area needing seeding, rake to a fine tilth and sow the seed at the recommended rate. Cover with soil, irrigate and keep birds off (they will love a dust bath in the bare patch even if the seed is treated with bird repellent).

Check edges and repair any poor parts by removing a square, turning it round and trimming the damaged edge before replacing it. Neaten all other edges using a half moon cutter or edging tool.

Add a spring fertilizer of high nitrogen - this will encourage good lush growth and you can get feeds with fertilizer and weed treatment combined which will give the lawn a real kick-start in spring.

Check for rosette forming weeds like daisies and perennials like dock and sorrel. Remove by hand if the weed treatment does not prove effective. Removing them early is good as rosette weeds will compete with grass plants and make areas of soil where grass does not grow. Removing them whilst small limits the size of this area. Perennials can usually be dug out with a lawn weeding tool or narrow trowel and should be removed when spotted or they will take over.

Brush ant hills away using a broom to avoid leaving exposed mounds of soil where weed weeds will germinate freely.

Annual weeds can usually be kept at bay by regular mowing or lawn weed treatments.

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