Spring Lawn Care Tasks to Tackle First

Services to Schedule Now for Spring Lawn Care

SPRING LAWN CARE

We are at the time of year when bitter cold days will start giving away to increasing temperatures, longer days and the smell of spring. This seasonal change triggers many homeowners to start thinking about which spring lawn care tasks to tackle first.

Many spring lawn preparation activities need to happen in sequence. Preparing for spring as a homeowner means deciding which of these activities you are comfortable completing yourself and which you will hire a local professional landscaper for. Either way you choose to get them done, here are the first three spring lawn care tasks you should think about completing now.

Put the Rake to Work

Once the snow clears, most lawns look terrible. Harsh winter months have taken their toll. The first spring lawn care activity should be to rake your lawn.

Lawns take a beating in the winter months. Heavy snow and cold temperatures that linger for several weeks can cause damage. The best way to prepare for spring is to put the rake to work. Proper raking early in the spring will facilitate quicker regrowth and easier spot-seeding later in the season.

Walk your entire lawn and find dead spots winter left behind. There are two lawn raking tips to fix up winter bare spots. First, use a leaf rake instead of a metal garden rake. A leaf rake is less likely to pull out living grass and cause more damage. Second, rake with the grain of the grass to again reduce damage to good grass. Both of these lawn raking tips will help to get any winter kill spots ready for seeding later in the spring. 

In addition, spring lawn preparation also includes raking along sidewalks, driveways and streets. Cinders and other foreign material aggregates along these areas in your lawn, which can kill grass and even damage your mower. Rake these areas again with a leaf rake to clear any debris that may have been shoveled into your grass.

Dig Out Your Yard Tools

Your lawn tools have been stored for months now. If they are gas-powered, will they start? For hand tools, are they functional? These are all questions you should be asking as you start to check off lawn tool maintenance from your spring lawn preparation checklist.

Lets focus on your power tools, such as lawn mowers and trimmers. Hopefully you followed the most important lawn mower maintenance tips when you retired them in the fall. If you did, all you should need to do is fill your power tools up with fuel and oil and give them a start. Before you do that, it is a good idea to change spark plugs and check all connections. Be sure to re-install you lawn mower blade (and sharpen it) if you removed it in the fall. Also, change your trimmer string so you have a fresh spool for the season. If you are having trouble getting power tools started, schedule service now to ensure you have your tools back for April lawn care.

Most Important Spring Lawn Care Task

Besides getting the crud out of your lawn and having your lawn tools in tip top shape, the most important spring lawn preparation activity is to get a soil test.

When homeowner ask how to get your lawn ready for spring, the answer is to test you soil. A soil test will get you vital information about the condition of your lawn. This information will allow you or a local lawn care pro the ability to specifically tailor your lawn fertilizer schedule. This will prevent over application of fertilizer that provides no addition nutrients and ends up costing you additional money. Also, spring lawn fertilizer can be specifically matched to what nutrients are needed for a healthy lawn.

Spring can be an overwhelming time for a homeowner when it comes to lawn care. However, if you concentrate on these early spring lawn care activities, you are more likely to be ahead of the game and be set up for when the real work starts.