How to maintain your lawn year-round

Taking care of your lawn may seem like a pain, but it doesn't need to be. Check out these simple tips to help you ensure that you're taking the right steps to make sure your front yard makes a great first impression.

You can whip old lawns back into shape by dethatching or aerating.

• Dethatching involves using a rake to pull the thick mat of dead grass and roots that accumulate under the living green blades of your lawn. Normally, you should dethatch the lawn in spring or early autumn, every one or two years.
• Aeration helps combat waterlogging. Poke holes about seven to nine centimetres (three to 3.5 inches) deep with a digging fork and fill them with sand.
• Spread fine sand over the surface of the lawn to deal with minor waterlogging. Worms will bury it when it rains.
• Use nitrogen fertilizers in the spring; in the fall, opt for a fertilizer that contains more phosphate to stimulate root formation. Apply fertilizers high in nitrogen only in wet weather.
• Keep off the grass in frosty weather, or the blades of grass could break and leave unappealing tracks.
• If a piece at the edge of the lawn is damaged, cut it out vertically and put it into the resulting hole upside down. Then even out the spot with a little dirt, sprinkle some seeds onto it, and carefully water the area.

How often your lawn requires mowing depends on the thickness of the turf. The cut grass should be no shorter than about two centimetres (3/4 inch); shorter lawns burn easily in the summer.

• Mow a new lawn for the first time when the blades of grass are around seven to nine centimetres (three to 3.5 inches) tall.
• Shorten the lawn by no more than about five centimetres (two inches) per mowing. In the first mowing of the spring, remove only the tips of the grass.
• Leave the cuttings where they fall to provide nutrients to the soil and shade the lawn's roots.
• Water thoroughly once a week during summer dry spells. The soil should be moist down to about 15 centimetres (six inches) so the grass can form deep roots.
• Minimize evaporation by watering in early morning or after 6 p.m.

1. Dig up the area with a shovel and loosen the soil with a rake.
2. Remove all weed roots and smooth out the surface.
3. Add a mixture of sand and compost to the area and sow the grass seed. Compress and water.