In autumn it's time again: Get on the lawn!
We show what work you should do now to get your green space through the winter well.
Frost and snow can take a toll on the lawn.
With the right care, you can still get your lawn through the winter well.
The most important care measures in autumn include:
Clear the lawn of leaves
Apply autumn lawn fertilizer
Do not mow the lawn too short
Remove thatch by scarifying
Overseed lawns where bare spots have formed
We show you what to look out for when caring for your lawn in autumn.
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Autumn leaves may look beautiful, but for the sake of your lawn, you should remove them before winter comes.
© Bernd Schmidt
Remove leaves from the lawn
Fungal diseases such as snow mold can spread quickly under damp leaves - and that as early as September.
These show up as brown to gray patches on the lawn.
To prevent this from happening, you should regularly remove fallen leaves.
Preferably with a rake, because leaf blowers are a deadly hazard for many insects and small animals.
If you pile up the leaves in a corner of your garden to form a heap of leaves, you also offer hedgehogs a decent shelter for the winter.
Or you can use the collected leaves as a mulch layer for your beds.
Apply autumn lawn fertilizer
Strengthening the blades of grass also helps to protect the lawn from snow mold fungus.
A special autumn lawn fertilizer is suitable for this.
In contrast to other lawn fertilizers, this contains a lot of potassium, which makes the blades of grass more resistant to frost.
However, it should not be too cold yet: At temperatures below 9° C, the grass stops growing and can no longer absorb the fertilizer.
Autumn in the garden: ten jobs that are now pending before winter
Autumn in the garden: ten jobs that are now pending before winter
Mow the lawn – but not too short
The lawn should be mowed again before the ground temperature falls below 9° C and the grass stops growing.
But not too short, because then the lawn will be more susceptible to frost, which will damage the grass roots.
Blades of grass that are too long would break off in the event of frost.
The garden expert
kiepenkerl.de
recommends the following cutting heights for autumn:
lawn type | cutting height |
|---|---|
utility lawn | 3 to 4 cm |
shadow lawn | 4 to 5 cm |
ornamental lawn | 1.5 to 2.5 cm |
herb lawn | 6 to 10 cm |
Scarify the lawn in autumn - but only when necessary
Scarifying is actually a typical spring gardening job.
In autumn you can also use the scarifier if the lawn thatch is more than 5 cm.
This can be checked by digging out a small piece of sod with a spade.
The scarifying period lasts until the end of October.
Here we explain how to properly scarify the lawn.
Sow bare spots in the lawn
Autumn is exactly the right time to reseed the lawn: the soil is still warm enough and the higher rainfall makes it easier for the lawn seed to germinate.
The My Beautiful Garden
portal
recommends reseeding bare spots with a diameter of more than 10 cm to prevent weed growth.
And this is how you proceed: First, the soil is loosened in the affected area and around 15 to 30 g/m² of lawn seeds from a reseeding mixture are spread.
Roll out briefly and then keep the overseeded area moist for around 4 weeks.
These tips will help you have a perfectly manicured lawn.
List of rubrics: © Bernd Schmidt