LAWNS

January might be the middle of winter but as the days lengthen the garden starts to grow. Now is a great time to plan for the coming gardening year and to order seeds and plants. Enjoy the fresh air, on dry sunny days, and check your winter protection, stakes, ties and supports are still working after any severe weather. Also put out food for birds and leave some garden areas uncut, a little longer, to provide shelter for wildlife in your garden.

If the weather is mild you can lay a new turf or repair hollows and bumps in an existing lawn. To repair the lawn, make a ‘H’ shaped cut in the turf, peel back the grass and either fill the hollow with loam, or scraping away the soil from a bump. Re-lay the turf, press it into place and pinch the cut edges together.

Repair lawn edges, especially around flower and shrub beds, with turves cut from other areas of the garden.

If your lawn suffers dieback from treading during the wet, muddy season, then consider laying stepping-stones through it to allow easy access across it without causing damage.