Monty Don urges gardeners to do 1 key lawn job in October

Monty Don has shared one gardening job that is key to ensuring your lawn thrives in autumn. In a video for the BBC's Gardeners World, the broadcaster and garden guru explained that worms play a vital role in your lawn's health.

He reveals why in a video as he gets down to take a closer look at a small pile of worm cast, explaining that gardeners should make use of them in one crucial way. They "appear on the lawn, particularly in the autumn, as bobbles of slightly slimy soil". "What they are is the excreta of worms," he explained, before picking up one of the soil-dwelling creatures to explain how their waste can help your garden.

"It digests organic matter in the soil, and soil itself" passing through a "very simple" body "which is essentially a tube taking the nutrients from it, and it comes out the other end", Monty said.

"And what comes out is more alkaline than what went in, and up to 50% more nitrogen, potassium, and phosphates.

"So it enriches the soil. So in fact, it's a composting machine."

They're a more frequent sight in autumn as worms love the wetter conditions, and come nearer the surface, meaning there's more of their waste on the surface.

"The best thing you can possible do with them, is brush them, it's a simple as that," he said, advising gardeners to take a brush and spread the casts around through the grass.

"And all you're doing is putting compost back onto the soil," explaining that the casts are richer than the soil itself.

Worms also aerate the soil, the gardening expert said, something that's crucial for a lawn's health. However, by autumn it will be compacted by mowing and walking on it, and you can help the worms by opening out the soil a little bit with a gardening fork to loosen it up, he said.

The clip shows him planting his foot upon the head of the fork and wiggling it around slightly in the soil.

"And if you do this before you brush the worm casts, you'll brush the worm casts into the holes," he added.

Finally, he also recommended scratching out all the thatch (the dead material that builds up on the surface)."

He then takes a wire rake and scrapes off a large amount of dead material from a small area.

Thatch can include "dead grass, moss, leaves, and it will all sit on top of the grass, stopping light and air and moisture getting in". he warns.