Spring is an important season for your lawn. With the right care, you will be able to prep it for a year of healthy growth. On the other hand, if you neglect it – your lawn could suffer for the rest of the year.
The good news is that spring lawn care really isn’t all that difficult, nor is it a lot of work – as long as you know what to do:
- Properly rake your lawn and remove thatch
People often assume that they only need to rake their lawn in the autumn, and that simply isn’t true. By raking your lawn in spring you can not only remove any dead leaves, but also the thatch (i.e. dead grass) that will have accumulated.
Thatch can block air, water and nutrients from reaching the roots of your grass – which is why you need to remove it. On top of that too much thatch can get in the way when you mow your lawn too.
- Prevent weeds
One of the first steps you should take to make sure your lawn is on the right track is to prevent any weeds. If crabgrass, dollarweed, clover or other weeds have been an issue in the past you should try to use pre-emergent herbicides so that the seeds that dropped in the summer don’t get the chance to germinate.
For perennial or winter weeds you could find the right post-emergent herbicide, dig them out manually, or look for all-in-one herbicides.
- Repair bare spots by overseeding
Technically spring isn’t the best time to repair bare spots in your lawn, but the alternative is waiting until autumn to get it done. If you would rather not wait that long, you can overseed your lawn to fix them.
To help ensure the bare spots are filled out, try applying a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer when you first overseed your lawn. In five weeks when the grass has germinated you can apply a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer as well.
- Lightly fertilize with mulch
Fertilizing your lawn with mulch can help it to grow lush, but you should wait a few weeks into spring before you start so that the soil is warm. In most cases you should wait till the grass starts to green (i.e. after the first two or three mowings).
It would be best to come up with a schedule and plan out your fertilization for both spring and fall so that you don’t end up applying it too early and feeding the weeds.
If you follow all of these tips, you should be able to ensure that your lawn care is on the right track. As you can see none of the tasks are particularly difficult, but each of them will help to pave the way to a better lawn.
By ensuring that your spring lawn care is on point, you can avoid many issues in the future and help your grass to grow lush and even throughout the rest of the year.
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