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How to scarify a lawn
Scarifying your lawn is an essential practice for keeping your grass healthy, lush and green. In this guide, we’ll walk you through how and when to scarify your lawn to promote healthier grass growth and keep your lawn looking its best all year round.
What is scarification
Scarification is the process of removing moss and thatch from your lawn using a scarifier or spring tine rake (more on these later).
When thatch (a layer of dead grass) forms on your lawn, it stops water and oxygen from getting to the grass roots below, damaging your lawn’s health while creating the perfect environment for more moss, mould and diseases to develop!
Scarifying is also essential to do before overseeding any patches on your lawn as it helps to break up the surface of the soil, allowing your grass to breathe and creating space for new seeds to be put down.
How to scarify your lawn
Method 1: Using an automated scarifier
An automated scarifier will speed up this process and save you a lot of effort if you have a larger area! You can hire or buy one if you have a large area to cover. This method will remove a lot more material and be useful if you want to overseed it afterwards. This may result in seeing soil patches where the moss has been removed - but that is what you need to overseed, so don’t panic!
Method 2: Using a spring tine rake
This is the simplest way, although it involves a lot of physical effort to do the whole area if you have a large lawn. Aiming to rake in one direction and then at a slightly different angle to get more material is the best and most efficient way to do this. Remember that your grass will need help to recover from this. So, overseeding with some fresh grass seed might be required for patchy areas and feeding it with lawn food is a good idea, too!
Use a spring tine rake, not an ordinary rake, as this will rip lumps out of your grass rather than the moss/thatch.
TOP TIP: Mow your lawn before scarifying as when you overseed the patches afterwards, you won’t be able to mow the area whilst the seedlings grow!
What to do after scarifying
After you have finished raking your lawn, you will most likely be shocked at how your lawn has ended up looking worse than when you began – and maybe wonder, “Why did I scarify?!” But do not worry; this is all very normal.
As mentioned previously, this is a great time to overseed that patches you have scarified. For a full guide on how to do that, read our blog ‘Overseeding a lawn’.
When should you scarify a lawn in the UK?
You can scarify up to twice yearly between March and September if the weather is on your side. However, the best time to scarify a lawn in the UK is between April and May; at this time of the year, your ground will be warm enough to help your lawn recover. Avoid scarifying your lawn during winter or deep into the summer months because this is when frost or drought is more likely, and it will take your grass longer to recover.
Can I scarify wet grass
Ideally no. While it’s important to keep your lawn well-watered to help the growth of your grass, you should aim to scarify it when it isn’t soaking wet, as you could end up pulling up more than just the thatch. This is because scarifying when your lawn is wet means the grass will be loose at the roots, and you will likely remove areas of healthy grass instead of only the dead grass.
Now you have some helpful tips on how to scarify a lawn, we have included some links below for further reading so you can get more out of your lawn: