Spring Lawn Care: Help Your Yard Recover from Winter

aerator

So winter is coming to an end. You’re beginning to daydream of cookouts on your back patio. Beer in hand, a few steaks sizzling on the grill. You can practically smell the fresh summer air, and feel the sun on your back. Unfortunately, though, summer hasn’t quite arrived yet and your lawn is not ready. It’s important to do a little spring lawn care before your yard gets a lot of use. Spring is the time when you set the tone for what your lawn will be all summer long. If you want it to be lush and green, it’s going to require a bit of spring lawn care.

If you live in a cold climate, your lawn has likely been subjected to a lot. Snow, heavy downpours and ice storms all winter long can saturate your lawn. This is really damaging to your grass and can take a bit of work to build back from.

Spring Lawn Care Tips

If you notice that your backyard seems to be waterlogged and just can’t dry up, there’s a solution! Using a spading fork, spike grass about 6 inches down. Do this in the marshy areas of your lawn. This will allow air to flow into the compacted soil. Once the air can get into the soil, it will begin to dry out more quickly.

You may notice this doesn’t seem to be helping. Another option is to use a hollow tine aerator to open up the soil more. The tines go into the earth and pull soil out. This allows much more air to get down into the soil, encouraging it to dry faster.

spring lawn care

Sometimes even the aerator isn’t quite enough to get rid of such a bad waterlogging problem. Your third option is to make a “dressing” of sharp sand, loam, and peat. Spread this over the area after you aerate.

The best thing you can do after treating with these methods is to just give your lawn time. Drying out after a long, wet winter takes time. Try to avoid walking through the yard or doing any other type of maintenance. Allowing the lawn to rest and recover from the long cold winter is the best thing for it.

Spring Green Lawn Care

Once your yard is dried out, you can begin your next round of maintenance. Chances are you’ve got a good amount of leaves and other debris that have set up residence in your yard. Use a garden rake to clear small sticks and stones from the grass. If any of your shrubbery or plants didn’t survive the winter, this is the best time to remove them.

spring lawn care

Hopefully, most of your trees and plants survived and are ready to bloom soon! You definitely want to prune and trim them so they can bloom their best. Best sure to use a sharp pair of pruning shears to prevent causing any damage to the plants.

Dead grass is an annoyance that happens when ice and snow have piled up for too long. Grass is pretty hardy so most of it will likely come back. If you do have dead grass, use a leaf rake to remove any excess grass. This way your soil has lots of space to breath and access good nutrients.

Once everything has been pruned, raked, cleaned and trimmed, it’s time to feed your lawn! Just like humans, plants need the proper vitamins and nutrients in order to thrive. Apply fertilizer to your garden beds and lawn. Using a chemical-free, natural fertilizer is best and safest especially if you have animals or kids around. After applying the fertilizer, be sure to water your lawn. It’s best to do so in the morning before the sun is beating down to dry things out.

Spring lawn care takes patience and perseverance. With a little work and time, your yard will be beautiful and the envy of all of your neighbors. Happy yard working!

Image Source: 1, 2, 3

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts