Preparing your lawn for winter in autumn

Ideally, you want your lawn in peak condition by Easter. Although this timing is more dependent on the temperature throughout March, having it in mint condition by at least the end of April will put you in good stead. 

This gives you time to fix any major problems left over from summer and properly water and fertilise your lawn.

Have the constant summer BBQs and backyard cricket sessions left your lawn looking like an old doormat? 

No matter how damaged your yard's looking, a little bit of TLC will bring it back to its former glory. 

Follow these simple steps to take control of your lawn:  

If you have bare patches:

• Give your lawn a cut and catch the clippings
• Disturb the soil with a metal rake to create furrows
• Grab a bucket and mix your preferred lawn seed with Munns Professional Buffalo & All Lawns Starter Fertiliser
• Spread evenly over your desired area and cross rake
• Using a fine mist spray, keep the top 1cm of soil moist during germination

Now's still a great time to plant a new lawn:

• It will then have all of winter and spring to establish before its first summer

Click here to check out our range of Lawn Seed.

It's also imperative that you remove and destroy any weeds present within your garden. 

During autumn, those weeds will be looking for any excuse to grow. 

They'll consume anything that comes their way and, thankfully, that includes weed killers. 

Try our Munns Professional Buffalo Booster Weed N Feed. It's suitable for all lawn varieties.

Once you've revived your lawn, continue to water and mow as needed. 

Our recommendation for mowing heights:

Upright (cool season) lawn – lower the mower to let sunlight and warmth in

Running (warm season) lawn – increase the height as the lawn starts to slow its growth, this will keep the lawn looking green during winter.

If your lawn is compacted, autumn is the perfect time to drive oxygen, water and fertiliser down to the lawn's roots. 

If you don't have an aerator at home, a small inexpensive manual one can be purchased, for larger lawns they're easy to hire or you may prefer to call a landscaper to get this done for you.

It's important to clear your lawn of any fallen leaves and debris as soon as you can. The last thing you want is for them to become wet, stick together, and suffocate the grass and breed fungal diseases. 

Few people enjoy raking leaves. It's a chore, it's a bore – but you'll be thrilled with the results. 

Here's a tip: rake all the leaves into a garbage bag and add a handful of Yates Dynamic Lifter to help the leaves break down. It'll eventually turn into compost, which you can spread over your garden beds. 

Grass growth tends to be quite sluggish as the weather cools down, but because the soil is still holding warmth, the roots and stems will continue to propagate.

Try using our Munns Professional Buffalo Booster Lawn Fertiliseror our popular Munns Professional Golf Course Green Lawn Fertiliser.

To see our full range, click here:

An autumn application of fertiliser will provide essential nutrients to the grass to stimulate deep root growth and will help the lawn stay greener for longer over the winter months 

When you're fertilising, it's important not to miss any spots. For optimum coverage, try using a walk-behind spreader. It might take a little longer but it provides an even and consistent layer of fertiliser. Munns

For more information on how to treat your lawn, make sure you follow Munns on Facebook. Have a great autumn!