Repairing Lawn After Winter: Seeding For Lush Summer Grass

The UK’s long harsh winter weather has probably caused havoc to the grass in your garden. Leaving your lawn looking a little lacklustre and sorry for itself. Well, the good news is; those cold and dreary days are almost behind us, and theres a slight glimmer of spring on the horizon. Which also means there is no better time than now to pick up your gardening tools, and gain yourself some green fingers. All in a bid to transform your brown withered grass, back into a luscious green lawn in time for summer.

But before you can start dreaming about mowing stripes into your perfectly manicured lawn. You need to know the vital steps required in order to rejuvenate your patchy grass from a depressing mud pit, into a healthy and neatly-trimmed green lawn.

The good news is; your winter lawn is not a lost cause, and you wont need to shy-away or be embarrassed about your grass come the summer. Because in this article, I’ll give you all the tips and tricks we used to quickly, and easily revive our own winter grass each year. So, if you want to know how we transformed our grass from total disaster to super luscious, stay tuned!

The best time to undergo this garden work is between March-April (or when things start to get a little drier) so lets jump right in.

In this article...

8 Steps on how to regrow your winter lawn easily!

Sadly we can’t just click our fingers and have a magical fairy-god-mother do all the hard work for us – although, that would be nice! But, follow these 8 simple steps, and your grass will be back to looking its very best in no time.

So you best dust off the BBQ, spruce up the garden furniture and chill the ciders. Because before long, you’ll be ready to host fun garden parties with your family and friends this summer!

Step 1: Remove all debris from your grass

First things first. Remove everything.

You need to go for a walk around your garden, and pick up any debris that’s landed on your lawn. Things like fallen tree branches, mushy rotting leaves, kids toys, and garden furniture etc. Make sure that it is all cleared away, so that you’re ready to make a start on your blank canvas.

Like all plants, grass needs sunshine (amongst other things) to thrive. Leaving objects lying about on your grass for a long time can obstruct those magical golden rays, causing even more bold patches and damage to form.

It’s a bit like dismantling a tent after a camping trip. That patch of grass thats been covered by the ground sheet always suffers. Just look at an aerial photo of Glastonbury Festival the Monday after it’s finished. The Somerset fields are covered in square patches where all the tents have been pitched up, and the grass below has wilted.

So have a tidy up and get everything up and off the grass.

Step 2: Remove those pesky weeds

Weeds can spread like wild fire, suffocating and killing off your grass in the process. Which is why it’s so important to get these all pulled out and killed off as soon as possible.

Get low to the ground on your knees, or improve your gardening game by using a kneeling pad (your knees will seriously thank you) Then grab a trowel, and use it to help pry the weed from the earth. Gently pull and wiggle the weeds as you go, making sure you’re being extra careful not to snap the weed in the removal process. We don’t want to leave behind the roots!

Once you’ve pulled them all out. It’s time to treat the grass and any stubborn weeds with a weed killer. We like to use this weed and feed one, as it targets the weeds but doesn’t harm the grass in the process.

Leave it to work its magic for a few days, and be careful if you have any pets. You don’t want them having a nibble on it!

Step 3: Give your grass a hair cut

Winter stunts the growth cycle of your grass, but the chances are there’s been a few sunny days happening few and far between now. Which has probably been enough to encourage some of your dormant grass to spring into action and start growing again.

If your grass is dry enough, now is the time to give it a quick mow. You’ll need to cut it on the highest blade setting, otherwise it could end up churning it up, and ripping it out from the root. The last thing we want to do is cause more damage, especially as we’re here to make it grow! You can always run over it twice to cut it shorter if you need to.

Make sure you have the basket fixed onto the rear of your lawn mower too, as you’ll want to collect all the grass clippings. If your mower doesn’t have a basket, be sure to rake it all up afterwards, or use one of those fun garden hoovers!

However, if your grass hasn’t really grown and is still super short from winter. You can skip this step entirely.

Step 4: Scarify your lawn to remove the dead grass

Next up you’ll need to scarify your lawn. Now, get ready to work those arm muscles, as this job is a bit of a killer!

You can complete this task using either a rake or a proper grass scarifier if you have one. Both work similarly, although a scarifier is a little more efficient at the job.

Doing this pulls out and removes all the dead thatch that will have accumulated in your grass. But somehow does it without damaging your grass. It’s really surprising how much this yanks out. A bit like when you groom a malting dog – it just keeps going!

Things will look a lot worse once you’ve completed this! So trust the process.

Step 5: Aerate the soil

If you have boggy, squelchy patches of grass where it just doesn’t seem to ever fully drain away. Help your grass by stabbing a garden fork into the soil approximately every 15cm or so, throughout the area. Or you can use a garden aerator, which is like a spiked roller. You can also sprinkle some sand over these areas, as it will filter down into the holes and help aid better drainage in your garden.

If the boggy area is extreme then this might not be enough to solve the problem. However, in our garden, we’ve found its really helped with better drainage.

Aerating the soil also helps to get goodness down into the soil when it comes to adding fertiliser later on.

Step 6: Over seed any bare patches in your garden

Take a look at your lawn for any bare or thinning patches of grass. You will want to over-seed these sparse areas, so that new grass can begin to shoot and fill in the gaps. Don’t be stingy with the grass seed!

We tend to just walk around and sprinkle some seeds from our hands over these patchy areas. Unlike when we used a seed spreader to grow our entire lawn from scratch – turf prices were extortionate! If you’re interested in how that all went, take a look at how we saved £700 by growing our own lawn

Then we cover over the seeds with a light dusting of soil/compost to try and prevent the garden becoming a tasty Charcuterie board for the birds.

This is the grass seed we use. It’s hardwearing, and loves a south-facing garden like ours. Plus its strong to withstand all the football matches that take place on it during the summer with our boys. It’s well worth the price tag!

Make sure the grass you chose suits the aspect of your garden. If you have a north facing garden, you’ll want a grass that can thrive in the darker, more shaded conditions.

Step 7: Give the soil & seeds some nutrients

Next you want to give these seeds, along with the surviving grass a delicious boost of nutrients. After all, the grass hasn’t had much love for quite a few months so it could do with some added energy and goodness.

Ideally you want to use a fertiliser to get it growing. It’s like a glass of Berocca for the grass; full of vitamins to help it function and thrive.

We had great results with this spring/summer lawn feed last year, and have used it again this spring. It turned our grass such a vivid green that some people even thought we had laid Astroturf!

Fingers crossed we have the same results again this year.

Step 8: Water your grass or leave it to Mother Nature

Don’t forget to water your grass, because it’s not going to grow without water.

If Mother Nature doesn’t do this job for you, then drag out the hose pipe and make it rain! You’ll want to make sure that you use a gentle mist setting, or something that is softer than a forceful jet. Otherwise you could end up washing away all those delicate seeds, and undoing all your hard work!

Water your grass twice a day (morning and night) for 4 weeks, and you’ll soon see little shoots sprouting out from the soil, filling in all the bald patches. Make sure you don’t water the grass when it’s hot, or you could accidentally singe it.

Maintain your newly grown grass

Within a few weeks you’ll have little baby blades of grass shooting out from the soil. Keep watering it, and when it’s grown long enough (about 4 weeks) it will be time to run the lawnmower over. Be sure to use a high blade setting, and continue watering the grass twice a day during the height of summer too. The intense heat, and lack of drink can soon start undoing all your hard work!

Now you have fabulous grass ready to admire and enjoy all spring and summer once more.

Good luck rejuvenating your grass! I’d love to hear how you got on.

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