APRIL

April is when things start to get into action and the amount of jobs that you can do in the garden really starts to increase. The lawn should now be growing and this means we can start to carry out more invasive work, as the lawn shall be able to repair itself. 

Mowing

Having done your first cut of your lawn at the start of month, you will likely have done 2-3 cuts of your lawn by now, so you can start to cut the lawn a little shorter. In Spring, you want to be cutting your lawn to around 1.5 inches to 2 inches in height, but make sure that you bring the height of your lawn down gradually and stick to the golden rule and don't remove more than  ⅓ of the height of the grass.

Throughout April, your lawn will start to grow much quicker as we have warmer temperatures and plenty of rainfall. Because of this, you will want to look at mowing your lawn every 7-14 days. 

Edging

Make sure you keep on top of the edges of your lawn. You will want to edge the lawn every 2 or 3 times that you mow it, so you will be wanting to edge your lawn a couple of times during the month. 

Renovation Programme

If you are looking to apply fertiliser, kill weeds, rake/scarify and sow new seed, then take a look at the renovation programme. This is a really handy piece of guidance that shows you how to organise the work. You may well want to shorten the amount of time on each step though and do a condensed version of this.

Iron Sulphate

Iron Sulphate can be very effective in early April, if you haven’t already done it in March. It provides the benefit of hardening the turf, bringing back the green colour in your lawn and it will kill off moss that has accumulated over the winter. If you have patches of moss or your lawn is looking a bit dreary from the winter, Iron Sulphate is a very useful option. 

Once the Iron Sulphate has been applied, you will want to wait 7-10 days for the moss to blacken and die. Then you shall be able to rake or scarify the lawn, to remove it. 

Fertilise

You will not have fertilised your lawn for around 4-5 months at least, so April is a great time to get some fertiliser down and get it looking green and healthy for the summer. Make sure that you are aware of the effect that fertiliser has on sowing new seed

• Lawn Feed - wait 4 days before sowing new seed
• Weed & Feed - wait 4 weeks before sowing new seed

April is a brilliant time of year for this too, as we tend to have reasonably high rainfall during the month and it is warm enough to start growing. So, make sure the conditions are correct and hold out for some rainfall - you shouldn’t have to wait long!

Weed Control

Over the winter, you may have seen a few weeds pop up in your lawn. There is plenty that you can do to prevent this over the winter, but some weeds will inevitably pop up. 

April is the time when you can start to clear the weeds, as the lawn is now actively growing and any gaps that appear from the old weeds can be filled. 

Raking/Scarifying + Overseeding

Now that your lawn will be actively growing, it is a great time to remove any dead material and excess thatch layer by raking or scarifying your lawn. This is a really important step to getting a healthy lawn in the summer, as it allows your lawn to thrive. 

Once you have removed this dead material, it is essential that you overseed your lawn. When removing the dead material, this will open up small gaps and you want to replace them with fresh seed.

If you are also planning to kill moss and weeds in April, make sure you have done that before you sow your new seed.

Repairs and re-seeding 

Overseeding is a great method to fill out a lawn that is a little sparse, but if you have specific exposed areas of your lawn, you will want to do targeted re-seeding. April is a great time to carry this out, as you will have the necessary rainfall and it shall be warm enough.

If you are planning to either kill weeds and moss, or rake and scarify your lawn, make sure that you have done these before you sow your new seed!

Aeration

April is a good time to aerate your lawn as the conditions for it are normally ideal. Aeration can also be done in March, so ideally you would have done it back then, but make sure you aerate if you haven’t already. 

If you are scarifying this month, check to see if your scarifier aerates also, as you may well be able to do this all in one go. 

Watering

It is likely that you will not need to water your lawn during April, however if you are seeding or laying new turf, follow the watering instructions for this.

Finally

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