During the winter months in the UK people tend to spend very little time in the garden as the cold and often wet weather means that the garden is usually a drab and uninviting place. However, it is at this time of the year when some of the tasks in the garden need doing so that in the spring and summer months the garden looks its best and can be enjoyed by all the family.

If there is a lawned area in the garden it may be looking in need of attention especially if there are dogs, cats or children walking on the lawn in winter. The lawn can get very wet and muddy which in turn can mean that the mud is walked into the house causing real problems and a lot of hard work. If the lawn is getting muddy the chances are it is possibly a drainage problem and if this is the case then it may need some shallow channels digging into the lawn under the turf and filled with gravel. Doing this should help the rainwater to drain away more effectively and stop the lawn becoming a mud bath.

Sometimes the lawned areas of the garden can get waterlogged because air cannot get into the soil and it needs aerating, but this is a simple thing to fix. A rolling aerator can be used which will make lots of small holes in the lawn allowing air to get into the lawn. If you do not own an aerator then you could either hire one or just use a garden fork to make the small holes instead. Although this will take longer it is as effective as using an aerator and cheaper too.

Now is the time to dig out and remove any large weeds that have appeared in the lawn. Failure to do this will result in the grass in these areas dying and once the weeds have started to spread the only way to bring the lawn back is to reseed the affected areas. If the lawn is particularly bad then it is worth considering returfing the bare areas with quality turf bought from a garden centre or even turfing the whole lawn if this is possible. Once the weather starts to get a bit warmer a lawn feed can be applied so that as the new grass begins to grow it will have the nutrients it needs.