Lawn care in the spring. Fall leaf removal may be my favorite thing to do but the lawn care in spring is a close second. The lawn care season around here (Wisconsin) doesn't start until mid April, but about mid February I start to get the itch to start changing my snow removal equipment over to the spring lawn care equipment.
In the spring, everything is fresh and starting over new again. You can sit back and reflect on what worked and what didn't the last year and how to improve on it. Many people start new projects this time of year. Some, to just get out of the house after being locked up all winter, and some to make their yard look more appealing for the upcoming summer celebrations that they have planned.
Whatever your case may be lawn care in the spring is very important to the overall health of your lawn for the rest of the year. Why? Spring is the time of year to really take a look at your yard and determine what needs to be done. Your main goal here is to bring your lawn back to good health so that it may start to build a good root system. This way, it will be strong and healthy for the upcoming summer which will bring, once again, (I hate to say it) the heat and dry conditions that we all know to well.
On this page I will briefly touch on some of the important things that you need to take a close look at. The topics themselves will be highlighted. You can click on them to bring you to a page that will explain the topic in depth.
Because this web site is a work in progress, some of the topics may not have a page for them yet. (or I forgot to link them) What can you do about it? As always, I love to hear from my readers. Just contact me and let me know what you are looking for. I will get to it A.S.A.P. Also I let my readers know when new pages are posted through the Rss feeds and my newsletter "The Back Yard" please sign up for these. They are both located on the left side of this page.
Lawn care in the spring. Let's get to it.
First of all I start with the obvious: pick up all the debris in the yard that has blown in or tree branches that have fallen. Most people start with this because you can usually walk in your yard and do this even when it is still a little to soft too drive equipment on. Also for the fact that some of the debris can not be run over by your equipment.
Next, after it dries out enough to rake, take a look at your lawn around the driveway and road. You may have rocks to rake out or piles of sand and clumps of sod that where lifted by snow plows. This is where I use a power broom. It is basically a rubber squeegee on the end of a string trimmer. It saves me hours of work.
I will next Dethatch or rake the lawn. I do this for a couple of reasons.
Because some lawns need to be dethatched. Especially if this is the first time that I have cleaned the lawn.
Instead of using a hand rake I use a five foot wide powered broom. This machine loosens up all the dead grass, leaves, and thatch that is matted down from the long winter.
The best piece of advice that I can give when doing this step is that if you have a bagging attachment for your mower, this is one of the best uses for it.
Whether you are using some type of dethatcher or even if you are raking by hand, just loosen the debris up so that it is not stuck down. Then, bag it up with the bagger. Just a quick note before you start to bag things up. Take your leaf blower and blow out all the areas where leaves and other debris may have blown in so that you can pick that up also.
Aerating lawns. Fall is the best time for this service but if you don't do it in the fall or your soil is very compacted and needs to be aerated more than once a year, now is the next best time to aerate lawns. To determine if your lawn needs aerating do this simple test. Take a screwdriver and poke it into the soil. If it goes in fairly easy, your lawn should be ok for this year yet. If it took some doing to push the screwdriver in, it's best to have your lawn aerated. Check here for what type of lawn aerator equipment to use.
Overseeding bare and thin spots in your lawn should also be done at this time. Spring usually brings some good moisture to the soil and will help the seeds take root. It is best to do this as early as you can so that the grass has plenty of time to get established before the summer heat comes.
Fertilizer is also applied at this time. Its gives your lawn that extra jump to get growing. Remember to follow directions carefully and calibrate your spreader. If you apply fertilizer at this time and it is not done properly you will more than likely be mowing your grass quite often, pluss the roots will not grow healthy and strong like you would like them to do.
Weed Control is important this time of year if you are going to do it. Timing is the most important part of this. You need to let the broadleaf weeds start to grow just enough so that they are showing and have leaves for the herbicides to land on, but do not let them get to old so that they are hard to kill. Also, if you are applying a pre emergent you need to have this applied before the seeds germinate. Remember, Crab Grass germinates once the soil temperature at a depth of 3" stays 58 for three consecutive days.
Once the grass is long enough, it is time for that first mowing. Don't wait too long to do this or it will be too long. The length of your lawn always seems to fool you for that first mowing. It doesn't seem long but if you wait to long you end up with clumps all over after you mow it.
Lawn care in the spring is a lot of work, but after being indoors all winter, most people don't seem to mind. Plus if you take good care of your lawn in the spring, you will feel proud of yourself and enjoy it more during those hot summer days and celebrations when your lawn still looks good.
