I have seen too many Christmas decorations starting to appear which means I think we are heading towards late autumn.

I know the early part of the summer was not great for most, but personally, I loved it if you compare it to the heatwave last year.

So, most lawns are looking good, we did have a dry/warm spell throughout September when we generally kept away but now things are rehydrated and we are looking to make sure they look well and healthy for the winter.

Weed control. All lawns will have fresh weeds appearing at all times of the year (as do flower beds). This year, we have had wet spells which mean that those weeds which have “blown“ in (like dandelions) or have been deposited by birds, will have had an ideal oppertunity

We have not had much of a great summer weather wise as many will agree, however, we do look set for a late summer heatwave over the next ten days of so which annoyingly for little people as most of them will be back in school.

However, although the weather through the last few weeks has been dull, we have not had much in the way of rain and what we have had will have evaporated very quickly.

Therefore, we will be seeing a very rapid drying out of lawns which will go brown rapidly, as we are already seeing on verges etc. Lawns have remained green longer this year, especially more so than last year but that will change briefly until we get substantial autumn rain.

The key thing at this point as we keep stressing in dry conditions is not to mow lawns. This not only removes any green material but stresses the plants and exposes them to heat and radiation, it also exacerbates soil moisture loss, so, if possible, just leave them be for the next couple of weeks.

Generally, weed control has been good this year, but you will see new weeds appearing when we do get some rain, these will be from seeds that have been blowing around in the warmer weather which will settle and germinate, as they do in flower beds. These we will take care of when we visit in early autumn. We can’t carry out weed control in the colder months as the herbicides don’t work so autumn is a great time to get on top of them.

We are now planning autumn renovation work which includes scarifying and overseeding. Many lawns produce a layer of “thatch” which is detrimental for many reasons, there is a more detailed explanation on the new website Click Here, if you think your lawn might be in need of scarifying, let us know and we can have a chat about it.

We are still pressure washing patios so if anyone needs this doing, feel free to drop me a line.

I hope you have all had a good summer despite the lack of sun and we look forward to catching up with you all soon.