How to Take Care of a Cool Season Lawn in the Spring
Spring: the sweet, crisp smell of fresh cut grass and earthy perfume of warm soils are near:
Giving your yard the love and attention early in the season will lead to a healthier yard and fewer problems down the road. That advice goes for your kids too, but we're not here for the parenting advice.
Spring brings to mind unpredictable weather, taxes, spring training, basketball tournaments, the first blooms appearing in the garden and trees, and housecleaning. What about the outside of your house? Most importantly, your yard. If you want to own your yard this year, you’ve got to start early -- when it wakes from winter dormancy.
Follow these 5 tips below to help make sure your yard doesn’t face unnecessary problems later in the season because of a lack of affection in the spring.
Rake and clear off the yard:
Of course you were attentive and disciplined enough to rake and clear the leaves off your lawn in the fall like your spouse asked you to do on some Saturday in October you can’t recall, but chances are there’s still a few that blew in after you finished ruining all your hard work. Now is the time to clear that debris so your yard has unobstructed access to sunlight when it springs back to life. This will improve the effectiveness of your first fertilizer application by allowing nutrients easy access to the root zone. This task can also dethatch your lawn if you get aggressive and rake up the dead grass lying between the blades of your grass and their roots. A little thatch isn’t an issue, but once it gets to be about ½ inch thick it’s thatch eviction time.
Aerate if necessary:
The soil your grass grows in is critical to the health and beauty of your yard. Don’t treat your soil like dirt. Ensure water and nutrients get to the roots of your grass by aerating your lawn. Idaho soils tend to be more sandy and less susceptible to compaction (although there's still plenty of areas with heavy clay soils), but it’s still a good idea to put some holes in the soil to ensure peak performance. You can get sophisticated with dedicated equipment like a spike or plug aerator, or you can act like a villager fighting a monster and use a pitchfork and the sweat of your brow to ventilate the soil.
Yard Equipment Maintenance:
First, find where all that lawn & garden stuff is buried in the back of your shed or garage when you hastily put it away in the fall (probably during a media timeout). Now is a good time to make sure your lawn mower starts and the blade is sharp, your fertilizer spreader is still operational, and you can find all of your shovels and pruning equipment.
Fertilize:
Your first application of turf nutrients is critical to achieving top turf performance throughout the year. A healthy yard is your best defense against weeds, disease and pests. Get your yard started off on the right foot with the nutrients it needs to bounce back to life and green-up in a hurry. Our first application is the appropriately and awesomely named kickstart my YARD 26-0-0tm which combines two forms of nitrogen well suited to the cold, wet soils of early spring. The first application for YARDbosstm subscribers happens in April, while our other yard programs start in mid-late March.
Top off propane/charcoal/wood stockpile:
The whole point of owning your yard is to enjoy your yard. Your yard is where memories are made with friends and family. Let's face it, it's not just your lawn that needs to emerge from winter dormancy. It does you good to get outside and soak up some sun while enjoying life with the people that make it all worthwhile. So fire up that grill, ice down some cold beverages, and enjoy that yard of yours.
The poignant odors of fresh cut grass, damp soil, and cuts of meat prepared over fire hitting your olfactory system are just around the corner. Make sure you’ve stocked up on all your grilling and backyard entertaining items. Pam down the cornhole boards, dust off that lawn dart set the authorities aren't exactly aware of, patch up the kiddie pool, and top off the propane tanks.
Following these tips will set you up for yard domination throughout the year. Checkout our lawn programs to ensure you get lawn nutrients delivered when your lawn needs them throughout the year.
