I love getting into the garden when spring comes around the birds are twittering and we should start to get some early flower blooms somehow the light makes your yard look fresh at this time of year. Once you have done admiring spring’s new flower blooms it’s time to see what tasks we have to do and I will cover all my tips for lawn care in the spring.
Over the years of tending to my lawn, I have been carrying out tasks that stand you in good stead over the coming months and later in the year you will regret not doing them earlier in the spring when there was a lot to tackle.
Check your hose
This is something that I always do first I’m going to be using this in the hotter days of summer and before this when I plant my new plants.
The reason I check it first and it’s a priority if we have had a bad winter with lots of freezing conditions, if any water was left in the hose this can freeze and weaken the hose and cause crack and leaks.
So attached your hose and turn it on inspecting it for any leaks a sign you have a weak point in a hose is a color variation it can turn a white color and this will be a weak point but doesn’t mean it will leak just something to keep an eye on.
Upon checking pack your hose away it’s a little task I know but one that is worth mentioning as come summer in the middle of a heatwave and a leaking hose you will wish you have done this task back in the spring.
Spring Overseeding
If you have trees or shrubs that shed their leaves and they have not been
picked up over the winter months this can lead to damage to your lawn and cause
bare or very thin spots.
Overseeding is an easy task rake the surfaced of the soil to break it up a little then sprinkle over your grass seed then get a few handfuls of topsoil and shake it over the seed, give the seed a little water and this should grow back nice and healthy.
It’s important to tackle this problem as soon as you find your cause bare or very thin spots to get your grass back growing here otherwise you may start to get problems with weeds as they love to find bare spots to grow.
Lawn aerate in spring
A key element to a healthy lawn is aeration, after a long winter and frozen conditions your soil can be compact.
Aeration is not a big task with the gadgets that are around now you are simply perforating the soil with small holes this will allow air, water and nutrients to get into the soil feeding the grasses root system.
This will help your grass get a strong root base and be much stronger and vigorous and this will help in preventing weeds as your grass will be much thicker so there will be nowhere for the weeds to grow.
We plan to do a whole topic of lawn aeration so keep an eye out over the coming months.
Dethatch your lawn in spring
If your lawn has had a bad winter and has a lot of grass that has died or wilted then this is the time to dethatch your grass, racking it should do the trick but make sure you get that bad grass out.
Dethatching is important because leaving in the thatch that is now there will give you a weak point in your lawn and this is where the weeds love to target and to stop this you want a thick vigorous grass and thatch in there will make it hard to achieve.
Keep the weeds out
If you have a real problem when you come to your lawn then you will need a little more help than a simple tip and we have you covered in our guide on All You Need to Know about Weed Killer for Lawns.
A healthy well looked after lawn shouldn’t have too many problems with weeds and using a weeding tool should get any stray weeds that find their way into your lawn. If using a tool is not an option then the article at the start of this tip will have you covered.
Weeds compete with grass so doing this task in the spring before the weeds get a chance to spread or go to seed will help you win the fight. Eliminating the competition for your lawn will get it off to a flying start.
Priming your lawnmower for the season ahead
We gardeners but a lawnmower thought its paces during the gardening season. Depending on the type of lawnmower you have will dictate the type of service you will need to give your lawnmower.
The first thing to do is give the wheels a check are they running freely if not give them an oil they may have got a little rust on the running arm over winter.
Then you want to give the lawnmower blade a sharpen this is a relatively easy task but you should be able to find someone local to do this for you, you want a sharp mower blade as this will cut the grass, unlike a blunt blade that will rip your grass and will weaken the blades of grass.
If you have a gas lawn mower then the task is a little bigger as you will need to top up oil, gas and maybe clean the carburetor but we are putting a guide to help with this very soon.
One job that needs doing is clearing any leaves or twigs that have found their way onto your lawn over the winter months, on your first mow give the grass a little shorter cut than normally say around ½ inch less is what I do then back to normal for the rest of the year.
This will break up any debris that is in the lawn and will be mowed up but doing this early in the spring will allow your grass to grow back nice a healthy before any weeds have a chance to settle in.
Fertilize in spring?
When it comes to lawn fertilizer we all have opinions on it and it’s a big talking point and not one that I would want to rush over in small tips posts like this so check out our article where we talk all about lawn fertilizer here.
The only quick tip that I feel is right to put here is whatever you decide you make on if you will lawn fertilize in spring is to get a product that suits the season so in this case spring, this will be the best product and will in most cases give your lawn a boost.
Spring grass Clippings
Spring is when your lawn is most vulnerable to weeds and at its weakest after a long hard winter, so looking for ideas to give it a boost is not a bad idea and one tip is to use the first grass clipping of the season.
The grass clipping is a great sauce of nutrients for lawns as they are packed full of nitrogen and lawn thrive on this. Grass clipping decomposes very fast and is a free sauce of fertilizer.
So when you first get the lawnmower out leave the grass box off, allowing the clipping to go back onto the lawn they will then decompose into the soil and be a great sauce of fertilizer.
Some people do this every time they cut their grass but others don’t like to leave the clipping on the lawn for any reason if this is you then catch them in your grass box and put them on the compost heap.
The nitrogen in the clipping will heat the compost heap and cause it to speed up the composting process, also if you have shrubs you can spread clipping under them to give them an added boost, done pile them under your shrubs spread them evenly.
Spring Lawn Care conclusion
So there are my tips and some basic ideas that should stand you in good stead for the coming months, getting some of these tasks done now and tackling some of the early problems will help you in the coming months get your lawn in great shape.
Lawn care is a task that can be made easy if you tackle things early, tackling these jobs in the summer you will be fighting a much harder battle to get your lawn looking great but carrying them out now you will reap the reward in the coming months and will have a lot let less to do and you will be happy you did them looking back.
I hope this article helps you get the lawn that we gardeners desire and check out our other articles that cover many other topics that I hope you find useful.