A healthy, summer lawn starts with spring maintenance. These 3 simple tips will ensure you’ll have a lush and beautiful lawn this summer!
A healthy, summer lawn starts with spring maintenance. These 3 simple tips will ensure you’ll have a lush and beautiful lawn this summer!From aerating to mowing to seeding, proper spring lawn care encompasses a range of responsibilities, and each step is important. Remember that cutting corners now could mean that at the peak of summer, you’ll be spending your weekends making up for spring lawn care oversights. Stay on top of the game to ensure healthy and beautiful grass that demands no more of your time than necessary.
Aerate
You can think of aerating as a breath of fresh air for your grass. This critical first step increases water uptake, increases fertilizer uptake, reduces runoff, promotes root growth, and overall encourages a healthier, better looking lawn. By pulling plugs out of the ground, you’ll encourage the grass to grow deeper into the earth. This not only prolongs the growing season, but also reduces the need to water and fertilize, cuts down on thatch that can build up, all while promoting a lush, green lawn.
Josh’s pro tip: Using the RYAN Lawnaire® Aerator, plug your lawn and allow a couple of days for everything to dry out. When everything is dry, throw down a light layer of fertilizer and grass seed.
Dethatching
Dethatching is great on its own to encourage grass growth, but doing this chore after aerating really enhances results! Dethatching in early spring will remove unwanted winter build-up of dead material that can stunt your grass’s growth. After you’ve aerated and thrown down a layer of grass seed and fertilizer, use the RYAN Ren-O-Thin® slicer to lightly thatch the lawn. This machine breaks up the dried plugs and pushes the dirt, fertilizer and grass seed back into the holes. Within a couple of weeks, your lawn will be green and looking good for summer!
Josh’s pro tip: Groom across the top of the surface of the grass to minimize potential damage. Dethatching on a dry day will help you get optimal results.
Mow on the Right Setting
Many of our customers ask, what is the ideal grass height for spring lawns?
Traditionally, you want to be below 2 inches in the Spring here in the Pacific Northwest. An inch and a half is ideal. When the hot summer months come along and grass starts drying out, raise the mower setting to 2-2.5 inches. This will help to protect and shade the roots and keep moisture in the grass as long as possible. When temperatures start to drop again in the fall and the rains come, drop your height again to 1.5 inches.
Josh’s pro tip:Using the right equipment for the job will help you keep your lawn looking great no matter the season without spending all of your free time keeping up with your yard. If you need help identifying the equipment you need, give us a call, or send us a message!
Summer is Just Around the Corner, Are you Ready?
Keeping your lawn looking great doesn’t have to be a drain on your time and finances. If you follow these three critical steps, your lawn is going to be lush and green this summer!
Just remember to get organic matter off your grass two times per year (spring and fall is best.) The bottom line is, your soil cannot breathe unless it is relieved!
Power Your Outdoors at Carl’s, a leading source of service, equipment, and parts for Bellingham and Whatcom County.