Autumn Lawn Care

What happens to your lawn in the autumn?

In September, at the beginning of the autumn, the weather can still be relatively warm and your grass may still be growing quite quickly. As the weather becomes wetter and cooler, but before the really harsh weather of winter sets in, your lawn will be more receptive to certain treatments than it was in the drier summer months.

The big change in autumn however is that leaves will now start to fall from surrounding trees and bushes. If left on the lawn these will rot, causing damage and potentially encouraging disease.

How can you look after your lawn in autumn?

Even though you will still need to mow your lawn, as autumn progresses the grass will not need cutting as short as it did during the warmer month, so you can now think about raising the blades of your mower.

One of your main tasks though will be to remove leaves and other debris from the lawn. You don’t need to let these leaves go to waste though. You can make your own leaf mould by placing damp leaves into black bin bags, and making holes in the bag with a garden fork. Tie the tops of the bags and leave them in a shady place, out of the way until the following autumn. You will then be left with a leave mould which is excellent to use in containers or rockeries.

Autumn is also a good time to carry out lawn repairs on thin or bald patches. But make sure you also identify what has caused these patches so that any diseases or pests can be treated first.