A quick guide to getting your lawn looking great

Rake it in

A good first start is giving it a good rake – also called scarifying. This pulls out all the dead moss, grass and other bits that are preventing water,feed and oxygen from getting to the roots of your grass.

Simply go over the whole lawn with a fine lawn rake – you’ll be surprised how much comes up! Just be a bit gentle as you don’t want to damage any new grass just starting to come through.

Breathe some air back in

Using a garden fork, go around your lawn and puncture holes in about 1-2 inches deep, about a foot apart. This will help to break up the soil a little and allow for better drainage and better air flow.

Regular mowing

Did you know that regularly mowing your lawn is so much better than giving it an occasional chop when it gets too long?

By cutting the grass consistently you will promote a thicker, stronger but softer lawn that is even, green and a lot less likely to become patchy. Mowing naturally stimulates new, strong growth and keeps those pesky weeds at bay.

Start mowing when the grass starts to grow, but never mow wet or frosty lawns.

A good feed

Many of us have no idea that our lawns need food to keep them in optimum health. Lawns are walked on, jumped on, rained on, dried out, waterlogged, dug up and even peed on! All this takes a toll on the lawn so the best way to keep the lawn in optimum health is by nourishing them with the right feed, inside and out.

Some of the benefits of regularly feeding your lawn include:

• Encouraging deep, lush green growth
• Thickens grass so weeds and moss find it hard to grow through
• Helps increase resistance to lawn disease, drought & frost damage

There are many lawn feeds to choose from but for a lawn that just needs a bit of tlc to get it back into shape after winter then try a product such as Miracle-Gro^® Healthy Lawn that helps green and thicken the lawn, ready for the busier seasons.

Simply apply it over your lawn using a spreader, water it the following day (if it doesn’t rain) and in 7 days you’ll see lush, greener grass.

Care and repair

If you notice bare patches in your lawn as the weather starts to warm up, then you will need to repair them.

The easiest way to do this is to buy a special lawn patch repair kit such as Miracle-Gro^® Patch Magic^® Grass Seed, Feed & Coir. This contains a combination of coir, grass seed, and plant food that provides the environment to grow grass anywhere!

There is even Miracle-Gro^® Patch Magic Dog Spot Repair for those areas of your lawn that have been burnt by the high amounts of nitrogen in dogs (especially female) urine. The mix is made up from lawn seed, coir and gypsum which repairs the burnt areas. All you need to do to prepare is rid the spot of any dead grass, loosen the soil, and give it a water, then simply apply the mixture and water in.

Dogs may be man’s best friend, but they aren’t always the lawn’s best friend. When dogs urinate in a concentrated area, the high amount of nitrogen in their urine can burn the grass, therefore turning the luscious green grass into a brown patch. Fortunately, Miracle-Gro^® Patch Magic Dog Spot Repair is fast-acting and the seed sprouts in days.

With both types of Patch Magic, be sure to keep watering them until the grass seed has properly established.

With these tips, your lawn will continue to be its glorious green self. It will be ready to be used as a barbecue area, a classroom for the kids, the stage for a sports day or the place for a picnic in the sunny months.