SEPTEMBER

September is when we will be starting to look towards the winter and getting your lawn into a position where it is ready to handle the colder weather.

It is a great month for doing any renovation work, as the cooler and wetter weather will get those results to show quickly.

Mowing

As we start to move into the Autumn months, we will want to keep an eye on our mowing regime and ensure we get the lawn nicely prepared for the winter

You should now have your lawn at its autumn length, with an eye on the last cut of the year by the end of September. In September, you should be looking to have your lawn about 1 to 1.5 inches in height and the increased rainfall will see a good rate of growth. As always, stick to the golden rule and never take off ⅓ of the height of the grass. 

Throughout September, your lawn shall be growing relatively quickly, so 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 renovate your lawn, then September can be a great time. The temperatures are cooler and the rainfall is high, so you will see the improvements quickly. In particular, this is a great time to be re-seeding/overseeding and laying turf.

This renovation programme 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.

Watering

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

Fertilise

You will want to look at getting an autumn fertiliser onto your lawn in September, as this will help to develop a strong root system and harden the lawn for the winter. These will typically have a lower Nitrogen (N) value, in comparison to the spring/summer fertiliser, with more focus on the Phosphorus (K) and Potassium (K) values. 

As always, a slow release, granular fertiliser is a good option. However, these do need watering in afterwards, but hopefully the weather can help you out with that.

Iron Sulphate

Iron Sulphate can be used to remove moss and you may want to look at using this throughout the month. If you can minimise the amount of moss within your lawn during the autumn, this will help the appearance of your lawn for the following year. Moss can have a tendency to take over in the winter, so removing it in the autumn is always a good idea.

If you do apply iron sulphate, make sure you either rake or scarify this afterwards to fully remove it.

Weed Control

By September, any major weed issues should hopefully have been resolved and it is normally just a case of keeping on top of any weeds that pop up. Weeds will grow quickly during this time of year, so getting them early is always a good idea.

September is normally your last chance to get on top of your weeds before the winter, so make sure you get cracking with the lawn weed killer.

Raking/Scarifying

In September, you may want to look at scarifying or raking your lawn. With the cooler temperatures lends itself to scarifying or raking, provided that rainfall is not too high this month.

This can be very useful to remove any thatch, dead material or moss from your lawn before the end of the year. You can then overseed and ensure that you have a thick and healthy lawn for the winter, which shall prevent weeds and moss from forming.