By Anita Alvarez
Warming temperatures, rainy days, sunny skies – these are just some of the signs that spring is here. While your lawn probably maintains its dingy brown winter look, soon, it will be blossoming with the rest of the flowers, shrubs and trees – but only if you provide the right care for it now.
Set aside a few hours to maintain your lawn and you’ll be assured to have a bright green, thriving lawn that lasts through fall.
1. Clean it up
When the ground is dry, head out to the yard for a family clean-up session. Remove old leaves and fallen twigs. Then rake the grass to fluff it up a bit. Be sure to leave the shoots of grass behind, so don’t rake too vigorously.
If you’re still waiting for snow to melt, spread mounds of snow out over the lawn to avoid a pile that will smother and kill the grass.
2. Target weeds
The best way to control weeds is to nip them in the bud. Before they ever make an appearance, apply a pre-emergent weed-control product. This way, before weeds can grow and smother the grass, you’ll give your lawn a fighting chance to survive.
If you’d prefer not to use an herbicide, the next best step to take involves proper lawn care. Growing a thick, healthy grass will naturally choke out weeds. Mow regularly, reseed grass when necessary, lay down sod in bare patches, and give preference to natural herbicides to grow a healthy lawn and preempt weeds from growing.
3. Planting
If your lawn has bare spots or you want to plant a new section of grass, now’s the time to do it. If you choose to lay down sod or plant seeds, forego the pre-emergent weed control step. If you apply an herbicide, it’ll kill new grass, too.
Laying down sod is the quickest way to a robust lawn. While it costs more upfront than planting seeds, you’ll get an instant lawn that’s thick and weed-free. With planting seeds, you’ll have to do a lot of maintenance to nurture its growth, such as being careful that people and pets don’t walk on the grass, performing weed-control measures and diligently watering it.
A healthy lawn is a fertilized lawn. The best time to apply fertilizer depends on where you live. Warm-season grasses should be fertilized in late spring, once the lawn turns green. Apply fertilizer to cold-season grasses with a light hand in the spring only if your lawn is in really bad condition. Too much fertilizer will cause too much early growth grasses, which won’t be hardy enough to last through the summer’s heat. Then, fertilize again in the fall, which is when the growing season for cool grasses is at its peak.
Attend to your lawn now and you’ll enjoy beautiful grass all spring long – and well into fall. Cleaning up the lawn, targeting weeds, planting seeds or laying down sod and fertilizing will give grass a fighting chance to survive and thrive.
Thanks for the tips. I’m trying to decide if I’m up to doing my lawn myself this year or be smart and hire someone professional to take care of it for me.
I would be smart and do it yourself. You may learn a thing or two, you will get some enforced exercise, save money and who doesn’t appreciate something more when they have had a hand in it.
Great information on the pre emergent. With the warm weather and fertilizer not only does the grass start growing but so do the weeds. Applying the pre will make the maintenance work through the summer a lot easier.
I found this out the hard way on a really large yard. Had I done the right pre emergent treatment I would have saved myself a lot of work that year.
Indeed, when dealing with lawn maintenance, you want to make sure you are taking care of weeds. Failure to do so can ruin your lawn, for weeds grow and suck all the water from all the plants around it, killing them. The best way to take care of them is in the
Great advice for anyone wanting to improve their grass. Thank you!
Pre-emergent weed control product is a fantastic and simple way to save yourself tons of headache and work.
Anita,
Great article and some very helpful tips! I always push for weed control through proper lawn care and natural methods and appreciate your share on that.
I think pre-emergent weed control products have their place but if you can control weeds naturally it’s a much healthier method.
The linked article on lawn care tips was great as well.
Thanks…
How long after I lay new sod should I wait to mow? Don’t want to ruin the work I just did.
You can mow it once it can stand a good tug at the corner and not budge. Remember at first to mow along the strips, not across them, the first couple of times. Enjoy your lawn!
Do you have a specific pre-emergent weed-control product that you recommend?
Thank you so much for the information!! I love it when I can find great, valuable tips for lawn care service online.
I really like your tip about cleaning up old leaves and fallen twigs when the ground is dry. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of the winter season and it snows almost all the time out here so it’s hard for my family and me to really take care of our lawn. But I think making sure we are cleaning up the snow where and when possible is something we can do to care for our lawn now.
Textbook advice. Thanks for pushing reputable information. 🙂
Really great info! Thanks!
Great article. Lot’s of information here.
Great tips! I am going to share this with my neighbors!
Fantastic information! thank you guys
Great Article. Lawn care season is just around the corner up here in Canada and this is excellent information for anyone interested in improving the look of their property.
My parents will be away for a long vacation and they want to make sure that their lawn will be taken cared for. It was explained here for grass maintenance, we should target weeds. Moreover, it’s advisable to hire professionals for quality lawn care services.
i do need to get started on weeding! thanks for the help
Spring is finally just around the corner here in sunny Surrey BC. Looking forward to getting the spring services started for our clients again. Thanks for the lawn care article. It was concise! If more people would do this their lawns would certainly be healthier.
Overseeding is great and can make your lawn look extremely thick and green. I like to do it every year at early spring time so that the rains help the seeds germinate and start to grow. I throw down a little starter fertilizer and some pre emergent and works like a charm!
Excellent article and tips. Thank you so much. Just now coming into the season and vitally important to fertilize now to get lawns looking great through the summer.The information on using a pre emergent weed control product is right on and so important to keep your lawn from choking to death. Much appreciated tips.
These are are all helpull tips for someone who is in the lawn landscaping business. Thanks for the help!
Nice Article…Very interesting to read this article. I have learned some new information. Thanks for sharing.
I recently scaled up my lawn care company and stumbled upon your article, great read, really appreciate you taking the time to thoroughly explain the most important factors when planning for a landscape design. In my practice I have noticed a lot of beginners making similar mistakes, such as not nipping weeds in the bud once they are noticed. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for encouraging me that it is time to remove old leaves and twigs from our lawn. I don’t see any point in maintaining our lawn just before winter, but I guess we should have it prepared so it will grow better in spring. Maybe it can also use a mowing service from professionals for better growth.
Nice idea for my lawn care in my home. And I share your great tips in my neighborhood.
Nice idea for my lawn care in my house, and I share your great tips in my neighborhood.
Thank you for sharing great information on how to improve my knowledge to handle lawn care in my home and future family business.
Thank you for advising us to improve our lawn care in my home and appreciate your dedication to sharing what you want.
I always like this post and very helpful with us, thank you for your great advice on how to care for a lawn and maintain a beautiful look at all times.
Nice idea, These are all really helpful! I always thought that healthier grass looked a bit longer as well.
Thank you for the great tips and information. It might be worth looking into a quality lawn care company to help with these projects.