Life

Wake up your lawn

Before you're preoccupied with a litany of spring chores don't neglect to give your lawn some essential TLC...

We're under starters orders. Spring has arrived with the passing of the vernal equinox on Thursday. It signals the start of what is traditionally the gardener's busiest time of the year. With the ground warming up and the weather becoming more conducive to outdoor activity, it's time to action the 'to do' list. Thankfully, from next weekend onwards there'll be a extra hour of daylight, giving us more time to carry out all those seasonal tasks.

In my own garden, it's a case of deciding what needs my attention most.

There's salad seeds to be planted, plenty of pruning to be done and a crop of early potatoes that need sowing.

If you add to this my desire to finally complete the decked platform beside the pond and build a new raised bed, you can begin to understand how difficult it is for me to prioritise. A couple of years ago, under similar pressure to meet nature's deadlines, I failed to donate any attention to what is arguably the single most important feature of many gardens -- the lawn.

The folly of my neglect wasn't immediately apparent, but by early August, following weeks of dry weather and abuse from an agile young family, it was no longer worthy of the title "lawn" and was instead referred to as "the area of dried soil with occasional patches of grass".

Last year, however, I corrected my ways and despite many other pending projects, gave my grass some seasonal TLC.

Spring lawn care is labourious and if carried out correctly usually leaves your grass looking far worse than when you began. Nonetheless - and I speak from experience - it is necessary if you are to maintain a healthy, lush lawn that won't resemble the Serengeti come summer.

It's likely many readers may have already given their lawn its first cut of the year, but I prefer to get the messy stuff out of the way before waking the lawnmower from its winter hibernation. That said, a cut will better help you identify problem areas requiring special attention and minimise the amount of moss and thatch you have to remove during the spring clean-up.

You can do worse than begin with scarifying, whereby a spring-tine rake is used to remove the dead grass, roots and moss that have accumulated since last autumn. This will make room for new

growth to emerge and provide some much-needed green matter for the compost heap. It's also a good idea to remove any daisies, dandelions and other perennial weeds at this stage, using a specially devised tool or an old knife.

The holes you gouge out will initially look unsightly, but if you regard daisies and dandelions a nuisance, it's best to act decisively now.

After scarifying, aerate the ground using a fork, or for bigger areas, a spiking machine. Aerating relieves soil compaction, improves drainage and allows the grass roots to breathe. reseed in areas where growth is sparse or where you've removed weeds.

After evening out any hollows and bumps spread, a top dressing of loam, fine compost and sharp sand across the entire lawn. Brush this in with a yard brush and then stand back and look at the mess you've made. However, within a matter of weeks it'll be looking great again, by which time it's in need of a spring feed. Applying spring lawn feed, available commercially as granules or liquid, will replenish the essential nutrients for the growing season ahead. Apply the feed evenly and water in well if there's no rain after a couple of days. In around a month's time as the grass starts to grow back it'll be time to wake the mower from its slumber.

But in the meantime, there's plenty of other tasks to be getting on with.

* Last week we mistakenly gave the wrong date for the forthcoming Co Down GIY event at Tollymore National Outdoor in Bryansford featuring a talk from Klaus Laitenberger.

The event takes place next Saturday, March 29, from 2pm-5pm. The cost is £6 and includes refreshments.

* GREEN GRASS OF HOME: Give your lawn a head start for the new season