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Some like it, many loathe it, but moss is a perfectly natural plant in the garden environment. However, waiting for it to appear and then hitting it with chemicals is not far off shutting the stable after the – well you know how it goes! Much better to make it unwelcome before it takes hold – and that means working in the dark!

This has been a staggeringly wet winter for many, and wetter than average for pretty much everyone. No surprise then that many gardeners will point to this as the cause for the moss beginning to thrive in the weeks and months ahead. But the opposite – excessively dry conditions – can have the same ultimate effect. When the soil dries out it shrinks, especially on the surface. In addition to large cracks, this creates dense and impenetrable sections of surface soil. When the next rain comes, it cannot percolate through and, once again, we have great conditions for moss.

So, what’s the answer?

The first instinct may be to reach for the moss killer. Now, moss killer will kill the plant and the spores, but it must be applied correctly – too much can damage the grass, and products combining fertilizers and killers are never as effective as single-purpose products. But I sometimes think of moss killer as the equivalent to mould-remover for the inside walls of a house. The mould is simply the final, visible effect of hidden problems – damp in the walls and poor ventilation in the room. So even if you use it properly, moss killer is like the last resort – surely it’s much better to go back several steps and work out how to discourage it in the first place?

The good news is that this ties in perfectly with what you should be doing anyway as part of your routine lawn care – looking after the bit you can’t see, the soil! Your soil’s ability to drain surface water whilst retaining moisture and air for good root development can make the crucial difference in the war on moss. Here are a few tips to help.

Mowing: this should never be a haphazard activity, only performed when you put put it no longer. Cutting too short (below 20mm with a rotary mower) can weaken the grass, making the sward more vulnerable to invading plants. And cutting irregularly can lead to the sward getting choked up. This impacts on the condition of the soil, preventing good air circulation, shading from sunshine and retaining water in the upper layer.

Feeding: are you feeding the lawn, and if so, how often? Giving plants food for a short period and then leaving them to fend for themselves for many months can cause problems such as excess thatch, which prevents good drainage.

Aerating and scarifying: aerating is essential for maintaining or restoring good air, water and solid ratios in the soil, encouraging strong grass growth. And scarifying is key to good thatch management. With the right tools (bought, hired or borrowed), both are reasonably easy to do.

So, lawn care is as much about what you can’t see as what you can – looking after the soil as it is exposed to different weather conditions through the year. And you don’t need to actually see the soil in order to know your work is paying off; just look at the healthy grass – and the lack of intrusive moss!