You may be one of those not fortunate to have a wonderful lawn yet and what you are looking at in your back garden is nothing like a healthy, luscious, cool green lawn. Bare spots, weeds, moss, it all looks rather sad. To make matters worse, your next door neighbour has a beautiful expanse of fine green perfection. But don't despair, like most gardening, achieving the perfect lawn doesn't need to be difficult or complicated … nor is it particularly time consuming or costly. Spring is the perfect time to get to work on your beleaguered lawn to make it look better for the summer ahead.

If you have moss in your lawn then this needs to be remidied first. Fortunately, control is easy - just use an EverGreen lawn care product that contains a mosskiller. EverGreen Complete is an example of one of those products as it has a specialist 4in1 formulation that will treat moss, control weeds, feed your grass and improve water absorption … all with just one application.

Having treated the moss, the next job is to give the entire lawn a good raking to get rid of debris. Be careful to not rake your lawn until after the moss has been killed, or you'll just spread spores all over the place. It's also important to consider how much wear and tear you're your lawn will undergo. If children are going to spend all summer using the lawn as a playground, then growing fine grass suitable for a bowling green is a bad idea, unless of course you enjoy looking at a big patch of brown dirt. It's important that the grass mix is suitable for purpose. If you are unsure about what to choose, we'd recommend using EverGreen Multi-Purpose Grass Seed which contains a quality mix of seed suitable for most hard-wearing lawns.

Now let's address those bare patches. Either cut out the bare patch, rake the soil and patch with turf, or, sow new grass directly from seed. EverGreen Lawn Repair Kit is perfect for repairing patches, as it contains both lawn seed and nutrients.

Next, let's tackle the issue of tackle thatch. Excessive thatch (the layer of dead stems and roots) is a common problem for established lawns. A dense layer of thatch can stop water and nutrients from getting to the soil. Raking with a wire garden rake, and cutting often should be adequate for thatch control. Aeration is also important to aid drainage and help the grass grow healthily. To aerate, simply sink a fork into the soil about 10cm deep at spacings of 15centimeters. This will let water and air to reach roots and improve drainage.

It's also time to dust off the faithful lawnmower and give the lawn a good cut. Set the blades high initially for a grass length of about 3cm (1.5"). If you mow any shorter at this time of year will open the door to weeds like daisies and dandelions. From now on, your lawn will need regular mowing - for a utility lawn once every week is about right, just don't cut it too short.