How to look after your lawn in autumn

When scarifying a smaller area, use a spring-tined rake. Power tools are more convenient for larger lawns. Avoid scarifying too deeply, which can damage the turf (see Meet the expert, opposite). Powered machines are available for hire. Make sure the scarifying height is adjustable.

Aerate the lawn to relieve compaction, allowing for better movement of air and water around the roots. Aerating every two to three years is usually adequate for an average lawn. Concentrate on worn areas and areas prone to staying wet. Use a garden fork for smaller areas, spacing holes 4-6in (10-15cm) apart and deep.

If gardening on heavy clay or if standing water is a problem, consider hollow tining the lawn every three to four years. This extracts plugs of soil from the lawn. Sweep up the plugs, then rake a top-dressing into the holes. Hand-held and powered spiking machines and hollow tiners tools that look like a fork but with hollow prongs are available.

Lawn top-dressing is available from garden centres, but it may be more economical to buy larger quantities from specialist suppliers such as Rolawn (rolawn.co.uk). Apply 4.4-6.6lb per 10 sq ft (2-3kg per sq m), working the dressing in well with the back of a rake.

If the grass is patchy, especially after removing large amounts of moss, over-seed the bare patches at the rate of (-1oz per sq yd (17-34g per sq m).

If youre not using combined moss killer and feed, apply a low-nitrogen autumn feed. But be aware that overfeeding with high-nitrogen fertiliser will encourage fusarium wilt (snow mould infection).

As the weather cools down, increase the cutting height of utility lawns to 1in (40mm).

If you have a problem with chafer grubs and leather jacket (pests which can seriously damage lawns), there are no chemical treatments. Instead, apply biological-control nematodes from July to September against chafer grubs and from September to early October against leatherjackets. Make sure that the soil is moist before application to keep the nematodes alive and active.

Quick trouble shooter: red thread

Seeing red: red thread usually appears in late summer (ALAMY)

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How to look after your lawn in autumn