How do I maintain a lawn?

Most lawn problems come from mowing too short, which stresses the grass and lets moss and weeds in. Longer grass shades out competitors, roots more deeply and survives drought far better. Almost everything else is seasonal maintenance around that one principle.

What you'll need

• Mower with adjustable height
• Spring-tine rake or scarifier
• Garden fork or hollow-tine aerator
• Lawn feed appropriate to the season
• Grass seed for repairs (optional)

Step by step

1. Set the mower higher than feels natural — 4–5cm for a family lawn.Longer grass shades out weeds and moss, roots deeper and copes with drought. Short lawns need far more work.
2. Never remove more than a third of the leaf height in one cut.Taking more shocks the plant. If it's got long, cut it in two passes a few days apart.
3. Mow weekly in the growing season, less in high summer heat.Regular light cuts are far better than occasional severe ones.
4. Feed in spring with a high-nitrogen feed and in autumn with a high-potash one.Spring feed drives leaf growth; autumn feed builds root strength for winter. Using spring feed in autumn produces soft growth that suffers in frost.
5. Scarify in early autumn to pull out thatch and moss.A spring-tine rake works on small lawns; hire a powered scarifier for anything large. Expect it to look terrible for a fortnight.
6. Aerate compacted areas by pushing a fork in 10–15cm deep every 15cm.Compaction is a leading cause of poor drainage and moss. High-traffic routes need this most.
7. Overseed thin and bare patches in autumn or spring.Rake the surface, sow, lightly cover with compost and keep moist until established.
8. Deal with the cause of moss, not just the moss.Moss thrives in shade, compaction, poor drainage and short mowing. Killing it without fixing those means it returns within a season.

Tips

• Leaving clippings on the lawn (mulch mowing) returns nutrients and reduces feeding needs. Only remove them if the grass was very long or is diseased.
• A lawn doesn't need watering in a normal British summer. Brown grass in a drought is dormant, not dead, and recovers with rain.
• Sharpen the mower blade. A blunt blade tears the grass rather than cutting it, leaving a whitish, ragged, disease-prone finish.
• Consider leaving an area unmown. It needs no work, supports far more wildlife, and looks deliberate if you mow a neat path through it.

Common mistakes

• Mowing too short — The single most common cause of moss, weeds and drought damage. Longer grass is a healthier lawn.
• Using spring feed in autumn — It pushes soft leafy growth just as winter arrives, which then suffers frost and disease damage.
• Treating moss without fixing drainage or compaction — Moss is a symptom. It returns within months if the conditions stay the same.
• Scarifying at the wrong time — Early autumn or mid spring. Doing it in summer heat or winter wet damages the lawn without letting it recover.

Questions people ask