Although chances to get out and do some lawn work might be few and far between, with the heavy rain and changeable weather, if you have an opportunity to pop out then do a little bit it’ll reap you huge benefits come next summer.
Firstly – it’s best to stay off the lawn if it’s wet, travelling unnecessarily over wet soil damages the ground, leaving it more prone to moss and weed growth, so any lawn work in the Autumn should only be attempted when the ground is dry underfoot.
A simple job is just to take a Leaf Rake over the lawn using this to pull up some of the dead grass which has accumulated over the summer cutting season, this works well in a small lawn and a lawn which is in good condition.
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Just work the rake over alternative directions over the lawn – and then use the lawnmower to gather everything up, and stick it in the compost bin, or spread it amongst the garden plants as a mulch.
Where you have a heavy moss covering on the lawn the simple raking will be a nonsense job, too heavy and too time-consuming. This is where the hire of a Scarify Machine comes into its own, this effectively is a supercharged version of you. It rips up the dead grass, moss and much of the weeds – then you just repeat the gathering up with the lawnmower.
Using Scarifier from Letterkenny Tool Hire with trainees in the Donegal ETB centre
A good Scarifier is easy sourced here in Donegal, Quality tool hire shops will have machines sitting for you to hire, and a weekends hire will sort out a few big lawns no sweat.
The benefits of removing this moss and dead grass layer is that if left this layer hold moisture in the ground, increasing moss growth and reducing the quality of your lawn.
If you do have big moss issues then the use of a Moss-killer, I’d always suggest Lawn Sand, is worthwhile as this will reduce the sheer volume of moss that you have to rake out and the Iron content of the Lawn Sand will help to improve the colour of the lawn.