Tidy

Keep lawn edges crisp and neat by trimming with a lawn edger. You can put the trimmings in a seed tray with soil and grow them on. This will enable you to patch damaged lawns & fill gaps after removing weeds and, better still, gives you identical looking grass for free!

Seasonal

Spring is a busy time of the year for the garden and this includes lawns. Various weeds start to make their presence felt; remove by hand or spot treat, filling any gaps with either your lawn edging off cuts or grass seed.

Dinner

Feeding your lawn during spring and autumn is not only a great way of keeping the grass looking green and luscious, it’s also a brilliant way of fighting off weeds. A well-fed lawn encourages grass to grow more thickly which helps it outcompete the weeds.  Use a high nitrogen granular lawn feed.

Scarifying. Now there’s a word you don’t hear used on a regular basis!  It’s the process of getting rid of plant debris built up in the lawn over time.

Opening up the soil under your lawn is another good way of keeping it looking great.  Doing this helps grass roots grow deeper which gives them a better chance of getting hold of more water & nutrients lower down in the soil.  An easy way to do this is going across the lawn with a garden fork. Standing on it each time will ensure the prongs go deep into the soil.

Don’t stress too much if water shortages stop you watering the lawn as often as you’d like to and it goes brown; it’s going into survival mode by shutting down until rainfall returns and then as if by magic it usually greens up again quite quickly once the drought ends.

During autumn start to raise the height of the cut on your mower and, as winter approaches and grass grow slows down, reduce the number of times you mow it.

Remove fallen leaves if they’re covering the lawn in a thick layer. They can be stored outside in a basic uncovered chicken wire enclosure and, as they rot down, they form a great, free compost for sowing next year’s seeds in.

Clover was once considered a weed in the grass, but it’s surprisingly beneficial as a lawn plant. It creates nitrogen, enriching the soil and helping other plants grow stronger. The added nitrogen also means that the lawn remains green, even in dry weather.

White flowering clover makes a good lawn alternative and attracts plenty of pollinators. You can also use microclover, which is a variety with tiny leaves. It doesn’t flower but it is hardier for walking on and really low maintenance. Look for seed mixes containing clover or microclover.

A sedum mix is a great drought-tolerant alternative to lawns and is available to buy as matting. Lay it like turf and keep watered until established.

Sedum matting features a wide range of fleshy sedums and can be mixed with a variety of wildflowers and taller plants.

There are hundreds of wildflower meadow seed mixes available. They make a great lawn alternative in areas like front gardens. Simply strip off the turf, scatter the seeds and water in.

You can choose colour-themed wildflower seed mixes, or mixes designed for wildlife. Look for varieties that include some meadow grasses too, which will give a great wildflower meadow effect.

This is a fantastic ground cover plant and very common as a lawn alternative. Creeping thyme is a great choice for sunny spots and releases a rich scent when you walk on it. The purple flowers also look stunning in summer.

Sow creeping thyme from seed or buy plug plants and let it spread. It is really low maintenance and can also be used to fill gaps and cracks in the patio.

These seed mixes are ideal if you don’t want to get rid of grass entirely. They use hardy, slow-growing ryegrass and fescue that will only need mowing once a month or less.

They are widely available in America and slowly making an appearance in Britain. Eco lawns are perfect if you still want to have grass, especially if you want a hardy lawn that kids can play on.

Replacing grass with moss seems the wrong way round, but it’s a great idea if your lawn is in shade. You need to buy moss plugs (small clumps of moss with roots intact) and plant them 15cm apart in bare soil.

Keep the ground moist and they will spread and join together. Make sure to keep on top of weeds too. Moss comes in a variety of colours and thicknesses to suit different types of use.

This creeping perennial is also known as mind-your-own-business. It’s a great lawn alternative because it is evergreen, with rich green colour and needs little maintenance. It’s best for moist, shaded areas and can tolerate sun or shade, so a great grass substitute for a shaded courtyard.

Bear in mind, it is invasive and only suitable for enclosed spaces where it can’t get out of hand. It tolerates partial shade as well as full sun and should be sown from seed.

This is a low-growing alternative to grass that has an appealing minty aroma and its clusters of bright green leaves make a carpet-like effect. It grows happily in full sun or partial shade but can rot in wet conditions.

Like all mints, Mentha requienii is invasive and spreads quickly, so only plant it in enclosed spaces.

This scented plant does the same job as creeping thyme and has a lovely fragrance. It needs full sun to grow well and doesn’t like soils that are very wet or very dry. You can choose from flowering and non-flowering varieties.