Spring is the ideal time to attend to garden lawns, and it’s likely the colder months have taken a toll on your grass, with it perhaps appearing patchy and brown in places. While changes to the colour of your lawn is fairly normal, and simply a sign that the grass has gone into dormancy, there’s a few things you can do now to revive the appearance of it. 

In a video posted to YouTube, the expert gardener Alan Titchmarsh has shared his three steps for improving a lawn, helping it to look greener and fix any bald patches that might have appeared. In the caption, he said: “I’m not obsessed with having the perfect lawn but like most garden owners I like to make sure my grass is looking its best as spring turns to summer”. It’s widely recommended that gardeners mow their lawns once a week with the arrival of spring, encouraging new and healthy grass to grow. But there’s a few extra steps you can take besides this to help your lawn look more green, which Titchmarsh explains in the video.

There’s a few bits of equipment you’ll need to carry out these additional measures on your lawn, with Titchmarsh recommending you get your hands on an edging tool, a rake, some top soil, grass seed and a trusty garden hose. 

In the video, the gardener explains that he doesn’t have “a very complex lawn care regime” but there are “two or three things I do to keep it in good condition”. 

These are Alan Titchmarsh’s steps for achieving a green lawn this spring 

1. Detaching 

Damp and rainy conditions over winter usually see a build-up of moss in grass, forming a mat-like surface that can make it hard for air and sunlight to get to lawns. 

Removing this helps grass grow back thicker and greener, but instead of wasting money on a moss killer, the gardener explains that you can simply “tease moss out with a wire tooth rake”. 

The moss can then be added to a compost heap, or Titchmarsh explains that you can also “leave a few piles around the garden” as it makes “great bird nesting material”. 

2. Overseeding 

If you notice your lawn has some worn out patches, instead of stripping it out and replacing it with turf which Titchmarsh points out “can be quite expensive”, instead “fork it over and reseed it”. 

Titchmarsh instructs viewers to take out the old soil and replace it with “decent quality topsoil”. After adding the soil, ensure it’s level with the grass before tilling it up with a fork to prepare it for adding seeds. 

The gardener uses a tough mixture of grass seed that “can cope with wear and tear” and urges viewers to check for an opening on the side of the box, as they’re often designed with holes that allow seeds to be evenly distributed. 

Add a thick layer before giving it a light tickle with the fork and watering it in. He advises giving it another water after it’s soaked in, and if you struggle with birds eating seeds, you can add some “twiggy sticks laid flat across the ground or chicken wire.” 

3. Edging 

Finally, borders can suffer during winter, with the cold and damp weather breaking down their structure. To remedy this, Titchmarsh shows how you can simply cut the lawn away and create a new border using a hosepipe and half mood iron. 

What he describes as “one of the most satisfying jobs in the garden”, place your hosepipe evenly around the edge of your lawn, and place the half moon iron to its full depth alongside the hose. 

Afterwards, you can wind up the hose and simply “take out what you cut off from the lawn”, creating a new border that gives plants more room to grow too.