As winter approaches, autumn lawn care becomes singularly important as soon as the leaves begin to fall. This is a time of year when the days become a lot shorter quite quickly following the long, lighter days of the summer. The yearly cycle of gardens regenerating comes to an end as the temperatures get colder and the winter sets in before it all begins again.

Lawn care should be at the top of the list for lawn gardeners to ensure that lawns get the best chance of making it through the cold, heavy winter. In order for lawn care to be successful, there are a few things to remember to do.

Clearing leaves and fallen branches or twigs is one of the most useful things that can be done. As the weather turns and conditions become increasingly windy, bark, twigs and sometimes larger parts of trees can be blown onto lawns. If they are not removed then it’s highly likely that damp, un-aerated patches will form below the fallen matter, which can do damage to a lawn.

Next, lawn care gardeners should give the lawn a good raking – often referred to as scarification, this should be done using the correct equipment designed specifically for this purpose. The seemingly endless summer weeks of lawn mowing can leave most lawns with a layer of cut grass just above the soil known as ‘thatch’. The thatch is bad for lawns because it prevents rainwater soaking away into the soil, creating damp and wet areas prone to disease. Lawn grass can also be stopped from developing correctly.

Finally, it’s also important to further help the lawn’s ability to drain water. Regular use of a lawn and natural growth can cause compaction, a cause of drainage and growth problems. This form of lawn care is often called aeration and is usually achieved by the process of spiking. A garden fork can be used to drive holes a few inches deep in the autumn to improve drainage and air circulation. Although this seems quite a drastic measure, lawn care experts recommend this routinely and no damage will be done to the lawn.