With spring upon us, now is the time to get outside, enjoy the weather and get your property spruced up for the season. By following the following steps you will have a more beautiful and healthy lawn.
Remove stray leaves, debris and broken branches from last fall. This can be done by raking or by mowing the lawn with a bag attachment.
Dethatch your lawn with “power raking.” Dethatching is the removal of thatch, which is the left over dead lawn clippings.
Aeration is the next step for preparing your lawn for the season. It is recommended that you hire a professional lawn service with an aeration machine since the right machinery is needed in order to open up the lawn for the proper air, water and fertilization flow. This is not required, however it will definitely provide your grass roots additional area to develop a much better root system over the long run.
Seed the lawn using a spreader for even distribution over the lawn. Choose a seed that is designed for the area you are seeding (sun, shade or combination sun/shade). Follow the directions on the bag regarding watering. If your lawn has only a few bare spots, then dispersing seed from a bucket or bag by hand is more adequate.
General watering of your lawn after seeding is important to keep the areas a little moist so that the seed will have a better chance to germinate. Make sure the seed is worked into the soil on the areas that you have applied the seed. It is a good idea to scratch up and/or cover the seed with a fine layer of peat moss or soil to establish a healthier growing environment.
Fertilizing is recommended to strengthen the root system of existing grass. Crabgrass control may also be applied early in the season to sterilize any crabgrass seeds that come from last year’s crop. It is imperative to apply the crabgrass control when the temperature hits the mid 50’s. If you wait too long you will not obtain the best results.
Remove all leaves and debris that have collected in the garden beds, as well as weeding and selected pruning of any shrubs, bushes and trees as needed.
General pruning of shrubs is done after the plant has bloomed. If you prune the plant before the bloom, you will miss out on the spring color.
When you are finished with the cleanup, lay back, kick your shoes off and enjoy the weather!
