To scarify or not to scarify

[didireallysaythat]

That's it in a nutshell.

The lawn under the fruit trees has never been great and I didn't scarify it last year (we've been here 3 years). It has been been hot and dry, and we haven't mown it in over a month.

Should I wait until spring when the trees have dropped their leaves, the soil isn't rock hard, scarify, reseed and feed ? Or scarify now ?

[shovetheholly]

Don't wait for winter - you don't want to be looking at bare patchy lawn all through the dormant season! If you do it nowish, it has time to recover before growing stops (though you might want to wait til spring if it's very, very shaded because my north-facing shaded lawn only seems to grow well that time of year). If we hit more very dry weather, you might have to give it a helping hand with some water, but most places look like they're getting some rain now.

[didireallysaythat]

I think I'll just be looking at a thatchy lawn over winter if I do nothing. If I scarify it might be a bare lawn ! I think most of the lawn there gets very little sun this time of year. That said, I can't see if from the house so if I exposure the soil a bit I'm not going to be looking at mud.

If I did it now (ish) what would the latest you would do it ? The next two weekends are chaos so I won't get to it until late September. We are in East Cambs so dry but cold winds.

[MrsBernardBlack]

I'm going to do mine now (if it ever stops raining long enough) and then put an Autumn feed mixture on it.