Setting your lawn up for a lush, green summer
With the days of sunshine slowly but surely getting longer, many people are anticipating spring. Utah’s infamous spring season can mean warm days followed by another snowfall. But don’t let the bipolar weather keep you from looking forward to blossoms and seeing your lawn again!
As you look forward to spring you may begin to think about your spring cleaning check list. As you do so, there are some things you can add to that list to help your lawn. Your main goal in pre-spring lawn care is to encourage maximum root volume and depth. You want to prime your lawn for the summer heat and possible drought. Here are four things you can do before and after your lawn thaws to give you a gorgeous green lawn all summer long.
Patience
The first bit of advice is to be patient. You really don’t want to do anything with your lawn until it has fully dried out. But you can do a few things to help the snow thaw and drain. Take a walk around your home and look for areas where melting snow may have trouble draining. Shoveling the snow and ice away from the perimeter of your home will not only protect you from unwanted leakage inside, but it will also help your lawn thaw more evenly. Make sure your downspouts, and roof and street gutters are all in prime condition to help the runoff as it heats up.
Watch foot traffic
As your snow melts away, be careful with the foot traffic on your lawn. When you walk on the wet grass or dirt, the soil compacts. This can cause problems, especially if the soil thaws on top but is still frozen underneath. Walking on your lawn that has thawed on top but is frozen underneath will cut the tops of the grass from their roots. Before you do anything more to your lawn, make sure it has completely thawed and dried out.
General Cleanup and checkup
Once your lawn is dry, do a general clean up around your yard. Clean up the messes you’ve avoided doing in freezing weather. This means collecting any branches, debris or toys that may be on your lawn. This will make it easier as you check the quality of your soil. You also want to check the pH balance of your lawn. Ideally you should have 40% silt, 40% sand and 20% clay in your soil and a pH balance of about 6.5 or 7.
Get a professional
If after testing, your pH balance is off, it’s time to fertilize. Let All Green Pest Control & Lawn help you put your best foot forward when it comes to the quality of your lawn through spring, summer and fall. All Green can accommodate your fertilizing needs as well as aeration. It’s important to aerate your lawn to give it the oxygen and nutrients it needs before the summer heat sets in. If your lawn has excessive sand, it’s especially important to aerate every spring.