With the darker days upon us and the weather conditions changing, we’re approaching the time of year when wet weather becomes a very common issue across the UK. Posing risks and often inconvenience, wet weather also necessitates extra grounds maintenance work to ensure that your grounds are healthy and safe to use. To make sure you’re prepared, we have put together this list of five key grounds maintenance tasks to get on top of during periods of washout.

Thorough Inspection Of The Grounds

After heavy showers or prolonged days of rain, you need to make sure that your grounds are undergoing regular inspections to ensure that there are no issues slipping through the cracks that could have adverse effects on the area. In particular, pay attention to drainage systems such as gutters and drains to make sure they aren’t being blocked. Otherwise, you’re raising the risk of standing water, which can have very severe consequences. 

Regular Path Maintenance

One of the most important wet-weather grounds maintenance tasks to complete is regular path maintenance. Rainfall, moss growth and mud can all make hard surfaces very slippery and unsafe to walk on, which obviously poses a major risk to any foot traffic in your grounds. Excess water can also create cracks in your paving. Do your best to ensure that your paths are kept clear of any debris and excess moisture that could present a hazard to people.

Flood Management

Floods are one of the most harmful things that can happen on your property, so you need to make sure you’re taking as many precautions as you can to prevent them from happening. That means identifying areas that are more prone to flooding and ensuring that they have clear access to storm drains. Having natural drainage routes to control water flow is important as well. Flood defences need to be inspected regularly during your grounds maintenance routine as well to make sure that they’re in working order before the worst happens.

Monitoring Turf Health

Waterlogging can pose a major problem for the grass turf on your grounds. Conducting grounds maintenance work to make sure you have access to good drainage to help remove water as quickly as possible is a major help, but there are other things you can do to help as well. One of the biggest dangers that you need to be aware of and work to prevent is soil compaction. You want to avoid compaction as much as you can, as this can harm plant growth by restricting the movement of air and water through the soil. To that end, avoid walking on your turf in wet conditions, and use a light lawnmower with a raised cutting height when cutting the grass. 

Why You Need Arborcure

Arborcure is a top grounds maintenance contractor in the South West with a stellar reputation earned over 20+ years of experience in the business. All of the above tasks and more are well within our scope. If you’re looking for a reliable partner to carry out your grounds maintenance tasks, then you’ll want to get in contact with us, where we can arrange a free no-obligation consultation to see how we can best work to look after your property.