How to repair your lawn

Steve and Val Bradley explain how to remove hills and fill in hollows in your lawn

- Steve and Val Bradley

ALTHOUGH we tend to view a lawn as a flat green space that needs a lot of work to look good, this underestimates its value because the average lawn makes a significant contribution to both the garden and the environment.

The lawn area is often the largest single feature in a garden and it acts to complement the colorful beds and borders, giving the eye of the viewer a rest, but also linking different elements together in the way a carpet acts indoors. It provides an open space for play and relaxation but, perhaps more importantly, a healthy lawn of 232 square metres of lawn (just smaller in area than a tennis court) produces enough oxygen on its own to meet the daily requirements of a family of four, according to the Lawn Institute.

Repairing a tired and damaged lawn

During the summer, constant use plus the environmental stress of periods of hot, dry or even wet weather can leave a lawn looking tired and damaged by autumn, so now is the ideal time to do some repairs. The soil at this time of year is usually moist, but not too wet, and is still warm below ground. This allows any repairs to recover quickly, as the grass-roots will continue to grow as long as the soil is at least 5°C, even though the leaves appear to have stopped growing.