Lawn Action in August

Reply to comment:

'What action do you take in August?
By Anonymous on Moss in Lawn on 25/08/10'


Thank you for your comment. As far as the lawn is concerned, if you look in the blog archives, you will see that I posted a 'Moss Alert' on 6th August which alerted readers to the dangers of moss getting hold at this time of year. If you look at the post, you should find links back to other lawn articles which will outline moss and other lawn jobs. Also, if you look at the categories at the side and click the 'lawn' link, you should find all the lawn posts.

There was also a lawn posting yesterday which was written before I read your comment.

The Lawn in August

August is in many ways a strange month, certainly as far as a lawn is concerned. Temperatures are still reasonably high, and provided there is sufficient moisture in the ground, growth should be quite strong. It is therefore a good opportunity for a lawn to recover from the hot often dry summer months (especially this year). High nitrogen (these should also contain some phosphates and potash (P and K)) feeds can be given up till the end of the month, which will really help the lawn recover.

However, there is also a downside. Overnight dews combined with high temperatures provide an ideal breeding ground for fungal diseases. You will see that I have had problems with 'Dollar Spot' disease (apart from the blight on the tomatoes). This has been largely dealt with by raking it out somewhat prematurely. This operation has been mostly successful, though there is still a little bit left. This disease is not fatal (it only affect the finer grasses, anyway); it merely disfigures the lawn for a while.

And of course, there is moss, the bane of my life (one of them). Warm dewy nights are also ideal for spore germination. Moss is sneaky and can suddenly appear, as if from nowhere, as I am sure you are well aware. So I really do advise you to be on the lookout for it.

I limed my lawn this summer (see 'Keeping it Sweet') to help with my moss problem. And, touch wood, this seems to have worked, at least so far. Usually I have had moss before now. But the lawn seems clear. Hope I haven't spoken too soon.

Removing acidity (by liming), and improving drainage, can each help tremendously with the moss problem (liming is best done early in January).

If you look back at the summer lawn posts, you will see that I spiked the lawn to aid water penetration (look under 'lawns', 'watering' and 'water conservation'). Water penetration can be prevented either by a thatch on the surface or by compacted dry soil beneath. Spiking, or pricking punctures the surface to allow the water through it.

A good technique is to go further than this and push a fork further down into the soil (as I did in the summer). If it is wiggled around, in the right conditions, it will break up compaction. But there is a downside: The soil needs to contain the right level of moisture, otherwise it can do more harm than good (this will be explained soon). Furthermore, because it breaks the root system, we need to be sure that the grass can recover quickly enough by growing new roots. For these reasons, I do not recommend deeper tining at this time (best to wait till further in September). Stick to pricking, spiking or shallow tining if you can.

If the soil is really hard - so hard that water just cannot penetrate (as it has been this year) - I push the fork deep into the soil just to make a hole, but do not wiggle it. This way, root damage is minimised, and the water has more chance to get deeper down to where it can begin wetting the lower levels.

The other thing which is good is Hollow Tining (provided the ground is not too hard), which I briefly touched on in a previous post.


If there is one thing I want to teach you about growing, more than any other, it's that we need to do things when the plant dictates, not the calendar. I know there are good arguments for doing things at the appropriate time. But nevertheless, this should be dictated by the plants. Times have changed. Seasons have changed. Methods and opportunities have changed. Equipment has changed. It's all changed from how it used to be years ago. We need to bear this in mind, yet still consider the wisdom from the past.

As the autumn progresses and the nights draw in further, the lawn detects this and changes its growth pattern from producing leaves to producing roots for next year. I have just given my lawn a feed which should be enough for leaf growth this year and give the grass a good start into the autumn when we can concentrate on the roots.

So, to sum up, make sure the drainage is good on your lawn and that water can penetrate down into the soil, ensuring any winter rains can get away without waterlogging the surface. Get on top of the moss, rake out any thatch and dead grass if necessary.

I hope this will be useful.

Best wishes,

Jimini