I spent a couple of hours preparing my front lawn for the winter: mowing, raking, mowing and will add the dressing on Wednesday or Thursday. Let me advise you all now that my lawn is the best lawn on our estate and the best that I've seen in our town this summer bar none. The secret has been constant and careful watering and proper feeding and weed control. It's not the best lawn there is since there are about 10 different types of grass in it but it looks a lot better than most and vastly better than some! I close cropped the back lawn too but didn't have the strength to rake and double mow it! By the way the second raking, to get rid of the thatch, produces a shocking amount of materials that would otherwise lie there undiscovered and anyone who is serious about their lawn should do what I did: advice comes courtesy of a wise gardener on BBC Radio Oxford that I tuned into accidentally yesterday around midday. DW