We wait eagerly for the first signs of spring. Birds begin their annual flights back to the UK and other animals stir in their comfortable hibernation homes. However, the first couple of warm days at the beginning of March does not mean it is time for do it yourself homeowners to go all in on lawn and garden care activities.
March and April often include several days of cold weather, with healthy doses of rain to make it nearly impossible to prepare a garden or tend to lawn care needs. If you have created a yearly lawn care calendar, you understand that although March 1 is the official first day of spring, you have to ease into the new season by following a few time-tested lawn care tips.
What Not To Do
If you hire a lawn care company to prepare your lawn for spring, make sure to tell the professionals that your lawn is not ready for scarification. The same principle applies to homeowners that decide to get the grass going on their own .Scarifying a lawn involves removing thatch from the surface to encourage water and fertiliser penetration deeper into the soil. You have to wait until natural growth helps the soil recover from scarification and that can mean waiting long after Mach first arrives.
The First Lawn Treatment for Spring
Whether Spring arrives early or late, the first lawn treatment you should perform is to implement a moss control strategy. By using lawn sand or pure soluble ferrous sulphate, you ensure moss becomes easy to scarify. However, do not eliminate moss until you have mowed your lawn. After the initial mowing of your lawn, wait up to two weeks and then mow the lawn again. Remove the dead moss and other thatch, aerate the lawn, and send fertiliser into the soil to provide nutrients for grass roots. Wait about three months to fertilise the soil again to ensure your lawn receives enough phosphorous, potassium, and nitrogen, without you overwhelming the soil by applying to much fertiliser.
Follow the Monthly Lawn Care Calendar
Lawn care activities ramp up around the first of March, as Mother Nature ushers in weather that is conducive for growing healthy grass. However, homeowners need to follow the lawn care calendars created to match lawn care tasks with typical weather patterns. Diving into lawn care activities long before you should perform the activities is a recipe for irreparably damaging your lawn.