Winter in the UK can feel never-ending and while you soon get used to week after week of cold, wet and generally miserable conditions, the prospect of spring approaching comes as a welcome relief.

The weather is gradually starting to brighten up, the evenings aren't as dark and glum as in the depths of January, and buds are starting to sprout, which is a sure sign that change is coming. Woolly hats and thermals will soon be retired to the back of the wardrobe for another year and as the spring season approaches, attention can be turned to the garden as it starts to wake up after a long winter. While there's plenty of pruning, weeding and tidying to do in time for spring, there is one important garden task to take care of as spring arrives. According to gardening experts, mowing your lawn in the first week of March will prepare it for the new season, help it grow back thicker and stronger.

Perfect Lawn Care explains: "As a general rule your first grass cut of the year should be in early Spring. Depending on weather and temperatures at the particular time, the last week in February or the first week in March is a great time to start.

"Aim to make the first mow just before the weather starts to warm up, keeping the mower blades high just take the tops off of the grass. This will stimulate the grass to grow and encourage it to thicken up, helping to keep out weeds and moss."

In early March, grass is typically still in a dormant state, so it's important to keep the leaves as long as possible to give it more surface area to absorb sunlight. Therefore, gardeners are advised to keep the blade height of lawn mowers at the highest setting to avoid cutting their lawn too short.

Premier Lawns adds: "If you need to cut your lawn in winter, please raise the cutting blade a little higher than usual. NEVER remove more than one third of the grass blades in one go.

"Remember that the leaves on a grass plant are there to harvest energy from the sun and keep the plant alive. Winter days are short and the sun's rays are weak. The larger the surface area of a plant's leaves, the more sunshine it can harvest. So for winter lawns, longer is better."

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Gardeners should avoid mowing lawns if the ground is still too wet, but if conditions are dry then it's worth just removing the top blades of grass to encourage new, healthy growth.

Experts also advise aerating your lawn with a garden fork in February to help improve drainage, allowing more air, water and nutrients to soak into the soil.

However, this task should only be carried out if there is no frost on the ground and the soil is not frozen, otherwise lawns could become damaged.