Scarifying The Lawn (Video)

How to Scarify and Rejuvenate your Lawn

Scarify your lawn in the Autumn every two to three years to get rid of any old grass and moss. This will enable the air and water back into the growth of the lawn, ready for spring. You can also apply a feed either now, or in the spring. 

Give it a good rake using a spring-tine rake. Press down really hard and scratch the surface. Do it herringbone fashion. You'll be left with a pile of old grass stems and moss from the lawn. If you have a large lawn, you can get a mechanical scarifier (petrol, diesel or electric), which will get rid of it in one go. Any of the raked-up grass and moss can be added to the compost heap.

Don't worry at all when the lawn looks sad after you've scarified it, it will bounce back in no time!

Today we're going to look at scarifying the lawn. We usually do this in the Autumn every two or three years, just to get rid of any old grass, any moss, if you've got a really wet boggy lawn, and give it a good rake. Get yourself a springbok rake or a spring tine rake. That's the best ones you use for it. Press down, really hard, and just scratch the surface. That's what you'll end up with, which is all the old grass stems, all the kind of loose grass and moss, whatever's in the lawn. Press down hard and keep on going criss-cross. If you've got a huge lawn, what you can do, instead of going down with the rake, which will take you days, you either get a mechanical one, a petrol-driven one, or an electric scarifier which will get rid of all of this in one go. When you've got a pile of this, that's for the compost heap.

Why not plant your spring-flowering bulbs at the same time as scarifying your lawn? Visit our garden bulbs page and take a look at the full range