While the winter months inevitably mean we spend less time enjoying our gardens, this doesn’t mean there isn’t still work to be done. In fact, garden experts have revealed the five lawn care tasks you need to complete in November.
For a lush lawn in summer, you must carry out the vital maintenance in winter, and on your lawn care calendar to ensure it comes back greener and luscious every year. Remember, your grass is facing the brunt of all the bad weather, which is why autumn lawn care is equally important as spring and summer gardening.
1. Aerate your lawn
First on the list is to aerate your lawn. This is the practice of creating small holes in your lawn (using a lawn spike aerator, £26.99 at Amazon) to help improve drainage and allow more oxygen and nutrients to reach the roots of your grass, helping you grow a strong and healthy lawn.
‘Ideally, aerate your lawn on a cool and cloudy day, ideally a day or so after it has rained, which ensures the soil is damp, which makes the process easier. Try to work either early in the morning when the ground is moist and has time to recover before nightfall. Or late in the afternoon when temperatures are cooling and your lawn can recover overnight,’ says Lucie Bradley, garden and greenhouse expert at Easy Garden Irrigation.
2. Clear debris
‘While this may feel like an endless task, keeping on top of it will keep lawns free of the smothering effects of decomposing material. However, instead of completely removing the leaves, I recommend raking them from your lawn and paved areas onto your flower beds,’ says Helena Jones, a gardening expert and Head of Commercial at Hedges Direct.
‘The fallen foliage is actually a great heat insulator and will protect the soil from becoming frozen in future cold snaps this winter. Wildlife also love leaf bundles as they can use them for nesting sites.’
To make this job a little easier, we recommend using a leaf vacuum to help suck up excess leaves. The VonHaus 3-in-1 Leaf Blower, Vacuum and Mulcher, £44.99 at Amazon, is excellent and sucks up excess leaves and turns them into beneficial mulch.
3. Complete a final cut
This is more of a task not to do, rather than a task to complete, but November is the last time you should think about mowing your lawn before winter.
‘Depending on the weather and the temperature in your area, it’s probably time to mow your lawn for the last time this year. You only need to cut your lawn if it has been continuing to grow, and with exceptionally mild weather being experienced in early November, it’s likely that you will need to give it another cut,’ says Lucie.
‘It’s important on this last cut of the year that you adjust the cutting height on your mower so your grass will be left longer, around 5cm, which will help to insulate the roots through the colder temperatures of winter. The longer blades of grass will help with photosynthesis even during the shorter days, helping to keep it healthy and less vulnerable to disease.’
4. Lay turf
‘November can be a great time to lay turf – the wet weather tends to take care of irrigation, and it will have a few months to settle in before the arrival of any hot, dry weather. Simply avoid doing this on very wet or frosty days,’ says Helena.
When considering when to lay turf, the main rule is to avoid doing it on really cold days, which often means the winter months are out of the question. As November can be quite mild, it’s still possible to lay fresh turf, with enough time to nurture it before spring.
5. Give your lawn an autumn feed
‘A final feed before winter will strengthen your lawn after a busy summer of growing and use, so that it will be able to withstand the colder temperatures, rain, frost and snow which may arrive. It also gives your lawn a chance to store up the nutrients it will need so that it can start growing as soon as Spring arrives’ says Lucie.
‘The best time to give your lawn its last feed before winter is whilst it is still green, but it is only growing slowly, allowing the roots to absorb the nutrients before they become dormant. People often wait until they have had their first frost before they carry out this last feed. Or, you could monitor the temperature, and once you see daytime temperatures are consistently below 10 degrees Celsius, then you know the growth of your grass will have slowed down or is just about to stop.’
You want to give the feed while the roots of the grass are still active so that it can absorb the nutrients. These nutrients will help protect your grass from bad weather as well as any fungal diseases. For this, it’s worth investing in a high-quality grass feed such as Miracle-Gro’s EverGreen Autumn Lawn Care Spreader, £15.99 at Amazon.
What you need
Colwelt
Colwelt Lawn Spike Aerator
This tool allows you to aerate your lawn quickly and efficiently.
VonHaus
Vonhaus Leaf Blower and Vacuum 3000w
Take the hard work out of clearing leaves. This vaccum sucks up leaves and turns them into mulch.
Miracle-Gro
Miracle-Gro Evergreen Autumn Lawn Care Spreader, Lawn Food & Moss Control 3.5 Kg, 100 M2
Don’t leave feeding your lawn too late, as you’ll want to give it a feed while the roots are still active.
Have you ticked off any of these tasks yet?
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