As we move towards summer, lawn becomes a bit of a premium in the garden. Everyone loves a good patch of green, but sometimes lawns don’t quite do what we want them to.

Maybe you’ve got a lawn that’s looking a little distressed. It might be quite compacted - the soil’s hard, and if I were to try pushing my knife into it, it’d be tough going. 

Underneath, it’s very dry, with not much moisture at all - and that’s often why lawns start to struggle.

Sometimes they’ve also been cut too low, and that doesn’t help. You might notice broadleaf weeds starting to creep in - bindis, cats’ ears, or even a bit of fleabane around the edges.

So what can we do about that?

A good place to start is with a weed and feed. The one I’ve got here is for buffalo lawns, but make sure you always use the right herbicide for your lawn type if you’re trying to control broadleaf weeds.

With a dry, compacted lawn, I’d go for a bit of a renovation to relieve that compaction. You can do that with a garden fork, working your way along the lawn to open it up, or you can use a scarifier if you’ve got one. 

Once that’s done, raise your mower height, give the lawn a good water, and apply your weed and feed. That’ll help control weeds while giving the grass some nutrition to grow back nice and strong.

Now, let’s take a look at what a good lawn should look like.

A healthy lawn has a nice sward length - about 35mm is ideal. That height keeps the lawn lush and green, and it’s the sort of lawn your neighbours will envy. There shouldn’t be any broadleaf weeds in there if it’s looked after well.

When mowing, just take the top leaf surface off - don’t scalp it. If you’re seeing white patches, you’re cutting too low. 

Keep the mower height high, around that 35mm mark, and you’ll end up with a lovely, soft lawn that’s perfect to walk on or to sit back and enjoy on a lazy summer afternoon with a cold drink in hand.

Another important part of lawn care is top dressing. You don’t always need to do it, but if you’ve got areas that have sunk or slumped a little, now’s the perfect time.

Here we are in spring, and all you need to do is apply your top dressing - you can grab some engineered soil from your local nursery or garden centre. 

Burnetts on Barney stock great material for this. Spread it evenly across your lawn and use the back of a rake to level it out and remove any bumps.

The grass will push through the top dressing, and before long you’ll have a flat, even, vibrant lawn that’s easy to mow and great to enjoy all summer long.

Top dressing - now’s the time to do it!