Outdoor Spring Cleaning to-do List

Aerate Don your aerating sandals. Loosen up your compacted soil and allow water, nutrients and air to get to your lawn’s roots.

Barbecue Dust off the cover. Check you’ve got gas (after your tidy up, you may want to fire your barbie up). Clean the grill and plates. Don’t forget to clean the fat catcher.  

Compaction Bonus. If you’ve already aerated, you’ve taken care of compaction. If not, see Aerate.

Decks Clear them and scrub them. If you’ve got to reseal, then you’ve got a little more work to do.

Dethatch What’s thatch? If your lawn is really spongy, you’ve got a build-up of thatch. If you can wait (or want to skip a job, because you’re keen to prepare your beef for a barbecue), hold off until the end of spring, as this is the best time to dethatch. Mow low to remove the thatch, but always only on warm season grasses.

Fertilise If your soil’s consistently above about 14 degrees, then it’s time to give your lawn a feed. A slow-release granular fertiliser, such as lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser is recommended.

Furniture Knock off the cobwebs. Dampen a rag and wipe off the dust and debris. Your wood furniture may need a reseal.

Leaves Rake up your leaves and place them in your compost.

Mower Now’s the time to service or get it serviced. If you’re doing it yourself, sharpen the blades and discard your old fuel.

Pre-emergent herbicide If your lawn is free of weeds, good job! To keep it that way, apply a pre-emergent herbicide, such as  Oxafert to combat potential infestations of, for example, oxalis or summer weed.

Soil If you’ve aerated and taken care of compaction, you’re almost done. You can consider using wetting agents or water storage crystals to maximise water efficiency.

Top-dress If your lawn’s a little uneven, throw a bit of soil on top. Make sure the leaf blades are still poking through. Top dressing helps to reduce thatch and improves drainage, too. You can delay this task, too, as the best time to top dress is in late spring/early summer.

Umbrella Hopefully you have no more than a little dusting to do here.

Weeds If you’ve got any, then pull them out by hand. If you don’t have any, apply a pre-emergent herbicide so you don’t get any!

Water Water your lawn as little as possible and when you do, water deep. Long, infrequent soaks are better than light, frequent applications.

Zoysia If your lawn is beyond repair, then take a look at Sir Grange (Zeon Zoysia). It’s great in the shade and drought tolerant too. Or for a more affordable option, consider the ever popular Sir Walter.