Spring Lawn Care Tip #1: Raking

Raking will be your first task of spring lawn care. Raking is for more than just removing leaves: it's for controlling thatch, too. A thatch build-up of more than 1/2 inch is considered excessive.

Thatch is the reason why I recommend that, when you rake leaves in the fall, you make the effort to rake deeply. Don't just skim the surface, so as to remove the leaves. A deep raking will remove thatch, too, allowing you to kill two birds with one stone. Even if you followed this advice in fall, I still recommend a spring raking: it will remove grass blades that died over the winter -- dead blades that are just waiting to become thatch!

But there's often another good reason for a spring raking. As you survey your lawn in spring, see if there are any matted patches, in which the grass blades are all stuck together. This can be caused by a disease known as "snow mold." New grass may have difficulty penetrating these matted patches. But a light raking will be sufficient to solve this problem.

Just when you should perform any of these spring lawn care tasks will depend upon the climate of our area. But Mother Nature provides palpable cues in some cases. For instance, when you're pretty sure the snow season is over, begin raking. Applying pre-emergent herbicides (see Tip #6) should be done sometime between the time the local forsythia bushes stop blooming and the time the local lilac bushes begin blooming.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #2: Check for Compaction

If your lawn is subjected to high levels of traffic year after year, it may eventually start to show signs of decline. In such cases, your lawn is probably suffering from compaction. For instance, the presence of moss plants signals compaction (among other things).

Lawn aeration is the remedy for compaction and so is a good application of gypsum.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #3: Liming

Besides compaction, the presence of moss plants also signals acidity. But grass likes a neutral soil PH. You can solve this problem by liming your soil. But don't expect a quick fix: the effects of liming are slow to take place.

But first send a soil sample to your local county extension to determine the extent of your soil's acidity. The county extension will also be able to advise you on how much lime per square foot you'll need. Apply the lime using a lawn spreader.

But if your lawn has been doing fine and shows no signs of suffering from acidity, don't apply lime. Liming is only a corrective measure, not a preventive measure. A soil that is too alkaline will also cause your lawn problems, so too much lime is as bad as not enough.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #4: Over-seeding

Is your lawn riddled with bare patches due to dog spots, heavy traffic or neglect? If so, you may need to apply grass seed to fill in those bare patches. This solution is known as "over-seeding lawns." Apply a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer when you over-seed. Five weeks after the grass germinates, apply a quick-release nitrogen fertilizer.

Spring Lawn Care Tip #5: Fertilizing

Lawns can be fertilized organically by using compost and mulching mowers. But for those who prefer chemical fertilizers. Many experts, however, recommend a lighter feeding in spring and a heavier one in late fall for cool-season grasses. Too much fertilizer in spring can lead to disease and weed problems. And if you have, indeed, already fertilized in late fall, your lawn is still "digesting" that fertilizer in spring.

In addition to the above tasks of spring lawn care, don't forget weed control and making sure your mower is ready for the mowing season. For those who prefer weed-free lawns, spring grass care is as much about weed prevention as it is about fostering healthy lawn growth. Novices to spring grass care are often surprised to learn that not all lawn weeds are battled in the same manner. Depending upon whether a weed is an annual or a perennial, you will use a pre-emergent herbicide or a post-emergent herbicide against it.

Spring Grass Care Tip #6: Applying Pre-emergent Herbicides

If you know that you have a problem with the annual weed, crabgrass, then fertilization in spring should go hand in hand with the application of pre-emergent herbicides. As their name suggests, pre-emergent herbicides address weed control not "after the fact," but before their seedlings can even emerge. Pre-emergent herbicides accomplish this by forming something of a "shield" that inhibits seed germination. Don't undertake the core aeration task discussed on tip #2 after applying pre-emergent herbicides: to do so would be to "puncture" this shield, thereby decreasing its effectiveness. Also do not apply pre-emergent if you are over-seeding the herbicide will not allow the grass seed to germinate.

Spring Grass Care Tip #7: Applying Post-emergent Herbicides -- Or Pulling Weeds

Keep an eye out for the emergence of the perennial weed, dandelion during the spring season, unless you find the presence of their cheerful yellow flowers in your lawn desirable. At the very least, you'll want to snap off their flower stems before they produce seed. If you're more ambitious, you can dig them out by the roots. Spraying dandelion weeds with post-emergent herbicides is more effective in fall than in spring. If you do choose to spray, select an herbicide for broadleaf weeds.

If you prefer weed control without chemicals and have consistently practiced organic landscaping, you can harvest these "weeds" as dandelion greens and eat them!

Besides proper spring grass care, there's more you need to do to get ready for a summer filled with lawn mowing. Don't neglect preparations concerning the lawn mower itself.

But your preparation for the summer lawn mowing season doesn't end with the spring grass care. No other power equipment is as intimately associated with and essential to landscaping as is the lawn mower. You need to have a lawn mower that will consistently get the job done without any hassles throughout the lawn mowing season. And you should also know how to use the lawn mower to your best advantage.  

Tip #8: Tuning Up Existing Lawn Mowers

Mowing the lawn all summer can be tiring enough, right? Why make it more difficult on yourself by putting up with a lawn mower that doesn't start up immediately? When a lawn mower is stubborn about starting up, that can be a sign that it needs a tune-up. Although it’s often possible to get by without one, it is recommended that you have a lawn mower tune-up each year. Don't put it off till summer. Learn how to tune up a lawn mower yourself using the owner’s manual. Things to remember are:

Changing the Oil

Changing the Spark Plug

Changing / Cleaning the Air Filter

Sharpening / replacing the blade

Tip #9: Buying a New Lawn Mower

Or perhaps you're fed up with your old lawn mower? Check your local outdoor equipment sales company that sale and service the equipment for the best advice on what will meet your needs.

Tip #10: Lawn Mowing Strategies

When mowing the lawn you want to make sure your lawn height is 2.5 – 3.5 inches depending on the time of season during the colder parts of the season you can maintain your turf shorter, during the hot part of the season you want to let it get a little taller to help hold the moisture, so you don’t have to over water the turf. Changing the pattern that you mow will allow the grass to grow up even and to keep it from leaning to one side.