Taking care of your yard during spring will help your lawn look great during the summer months. Here are seven spring lawn care tips to help boost your home’s curb appeal.
Raking is the First Step for Spring Lawn Care
Raking in the spring gets rid of dead grass and leaves that are leftover from the winter season. This type of debris adds to the thatch layer if it isn’t removed. If the thatch layer gets to be half an inch or thicker, it can harm the lawn.
Use the following raking tips:
- Rake when soil is dry. You’ll pull out budding grass crowns if the soil is muddy or soft.
- Use a spring-tine rake.
- Employ a firm upward pull to gather all the dead grass.
Overseed Bare Spots
Late spring is a good time to fill in thin or bare spots of grass with seed. Use a slow-release nitrogen feed when overseeding. Mark the date on the calendar and then apply a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer five weeks later.
Aerate The Yard
Your spring lawn care chores should include aeration. This is especially true if your lawn has compacted soil. Purchase an aeration tool from your local hardware store. It creates cork-size holes in your lawn. Aerating allows roots to benefit from additional moisture, air, and nutrients.
Removing Weeds for Spring Lawn Care
Apply a pre-emergent herbicide to your yard if it typically suffers from crabgrass. Follow the instructions that come on the container. You should use a post-emergent herbicide if weeds have already started taking over your lawn.
Use Fertilizer
Cover your lawn with spring fertilizer about three weeks after grass begins greening. This typically happens after the first couple of mowing sessions. You might experience fertilizer runoff or feed the weeds if you complete this spring lawn care step too soon.
Water The Lawn
Irrigation needs are different depending on where you live. Midwest, North, and Pacific Northwest areas typically benefit from natural rainfall and don’t require much additional watering. Desert and mountain areas require regular watering schedules to keep grass green and growing. No matter where you live, avoid watering too much in an attempt to green your grass.
Mowing for Spring Lawn Care
Complete your first mowing after you see that the grass has grown long enough and when the ground is dry. Don’t mow the lawn too short. Longer grass protects the soil from drying out and discourages weed growth. Grass that’s too short also develops shallow roots, which means your grass might eventually suffer from drought stress.
Using these spring lawn care tips to make sure you create a beautiful yard you can be proud of.
Anderson Home Inspections provides home inspection services to Central Ohio. Contact us to schedule an appointment.