Monthly gardening tips & advice - April

Lawns

Mow lawns when necessary whenever the grass is growing – the aim is to maintain a constant height throughout the year.
If you have bulbs in your lawn, such as daffodils, wait at least six weeks after flowering before you mow the area, to allow the leaves to photosynthesise and feed the bulbs for a good display next spring.
Define the lawn edges using a half-moon edging iron or spade, creating a 7.5cm (3in) ‘gutter’ around the lawn. This will prevent grass creeping from the lawn into your borders.
Repair bumps and hollows by peeling back the turf, removing or adding soil, then replacing the turf.
Apply a specific spring lawn fertiliser if your grass needs a boost, at the rate recommended on the packet. This nitrogen-rich feed will increase the lawn’s vigour and help prevent weeds and moss from establishing. Use the minimum amount necessary, to reduce the environmental impact.
Use a spring-tined rake to remove old plant debris clogging up your lawn.
Add grass clippings to the compost heap in thin layers. Too much all at once is likely to cause wet, poorly aerated conditions, resulting in smelly slime rather than compost.
See our guide to spring/summer lawn care.

Sow a new lawn or re-seed dead patches from mid-April to early May. But if the soil is very wet or cold, germination will be poor, so delay until the weather improves. Prepare the ground for sowing by forking over, weeding, levelling and lightly firming.
Avoid walking on or mowing newly sown grass until it has reached 5–8cm (2–3in) tall. Even then, only give it a light trim, with the blade at the highest setting.
Sow a wildflower meadow or plant wildflower plugs into existing lawns.
See our video guide to creating a new lawn.

If your summers tend to be hot and a hosepipe ban looks likely, keep your lawn a little longer than usual.
If summer droughts are an issue, consider investing in a mulching mower. This shreds grass clippings very finely then blows them into the lower layers of the turf, where they act as a mulch. Because the clippings are fine, they don't affect the appearance of the lawn. The mulch helps to retain moisture in the soil and keep your lawn greener for longer.
If moss is a problem (usually only in damp, poorly drained lawns) and you want to get rid of it, try removing with a spring-tined rake first. If that isn’t successful, you could apply a chemical moss killer, then rake out the debris after a couple of weeks. See our guide to moss in lawns.
See all our lawn care advice.

Lawns