Repairing lawn damage and annual maintenance for lawn care

Renovating neglected lawns

Lawn renovation involves a series of procedures to restore a lawn to good condition. In early spring, cut the turf to 5 cm and remove the clippings. Reduce the cutting height incrementally by subsequent mowing until the required height is reached. Then fertilise the lawn and apply herbicide (around two weeks later) to control weeds. Reseed bare or uneven patches 1-2 weeks after the herbicide application. At the beginning of autumn, aerate, top-dress with a sand-soil mix, and fertilise the lawn in that order. Then follow a regular maintenance programme (see Table1).

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Damaged edges

Edges that have been damaged in small areas can be repaired by cutting the turf with an edger against a plank of wood (Figure 1). Then slice under the section of turf with a spade and slide the section towards the lawn edge until the damaged area is outside the lawn. Trim off the damaged part to align the turf with the existing lawn edge. Re-grass the resulting gap in the turf by adding a little soil and reseeding with a grass mixture. This method maintains the edge of the lawn without it slumping as would happen if the damaged area was simply removed and reseeded with a grass mixture.

Figure 1: Repairing a damaged edge.

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Levelling a hump or hollow

Cut a cross through the turf in the affected area and peel back the cut turf (Figure 2). To level a hollow, fork over the soil beneath and fill in with topsoil, then firm the ground. For a hump, remove the excess soil until the ground is level, fold back the cut turf and tamp it down with the back of a rake before top-dressing and watering.

Figure 2: Levelling a hollow or hump.

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Annual maintenance programme

Table 1: Summary of annual maintenance programme

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