Hey guys, welcome to Spring 2010! It’s been a long winter and I have certainly missed being outside in my lawn and landscape. I am sure you have too. (you’ve no doubt missed my lawn tips too right? ) But enough of the virtual hugs, let’s get right down to some early spring lawn care tips.

We will keep it simple today by giving you just two “must-do’s” for your yard this weekend. That’s right ya’ll; get out this weekend and get that grass woken up from slumber. It’s calling you!

Spring Lawn Aeration

I have talked about lawn aeration before, but it is just that important for me to bring up again. You have to aerate your lawn this spring, period!

Aerating is the process whereby we take a large machine, a little bigger than a lawn mower, and punch holes and remove cores from the lawn. This removal of cores loosens soil that has been compacted from snow piles, foot traffic and other stresses. Core aerating in the spring is also gonna punch holes in the thatch layer and help our fertilizer get to the root system fast where it can wake up that turf!

You can rent an aerator at your local tool shop or lawn mower store, and I recommend you grab your two neighbors on either side and share the day, the expense and labor involved! Aerating the lawn is not an easy task guys, but it is very very important! Do not skip this step, ok?

Spring Lawn Fertilizer

Pretty much right after you finish aerating the lawn, you can and should throw down your first application of spring lawn fertilizer. The lawn will be nicely opened up and the roots exposed, so nutrients can get right in and be used quickly.

When you choose a spring fertilizer, look for one that is well balanced with nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Don’t grab one that is mostly nitrogen because this will push top growth too early and cause issues later in the summer.

Additionally, I’d recommend you chuck down a nice happy organic lawn fertilizer the weekend after. Organics won’t burn, so don’t worry about over-fertilizing. Natural nutrients that come from organic sources will break down slowly as temperatures warm up, increasing soil biotic activity and THAT is very healthy for the turf!

Bonus Spring Lawn Tip

In the midst of all this fun you are having with lawn aeration and spring lawn fertilizer, you can also spread in some fresh grass seed. Grass seed is always a welcome addition in the spring time and can help the thickening process that much more. Be sure to get a nice blended seed that is right for your area of the country. Never buy a single formulation of one type. Blends work better and perform in the long run.

So that’s it you guys. Get out there and aerate and apply a nice spring fertilizer, throw in some organics, a little grass seed, and you are good to go! Best of luck and I’ll see you in the next post!

Very simple lawn care tips here today folks… You guys know that I talk a lot about mowing and watering properly, as well as fertilization schedules and insect and diesease control. But there are two simple lawn care basics that can really set your lawn apart in the neighborhood and give you the edge over the “Jones’s.” Afterall, don’t we want to look better than our neighbors? Don’t we want our lawns to be the ones talked about at the next meeting of the Home Owners’ Assocation? Here you go:

Clean, weed-whacked landscape edges! “Beauteus Maximus”

yeah, that is my own crib, in case you are wondering!

First off, you need to weed wack around, well, “the edges”: every single time you manicure your lawn. Just look at how beautiful and buttoned up this looks with nice green grass going right up to the landscape beds. If you make sure to do your string trimming each and everytime you mow, it will not take that long to do each time. The mistake folks make is they skip this step here and there and things get away from them and become a hassle.

See how clean this looks after a nice BLADE edging?

Much better than using just the string trimmer. Tight!

Next, and more importantly, you need to use a bladed edger around your driveway and sidewalks. Don’t use your string trimmer for edging as it just does not give the same defined look you get when you use a blade edger. I have an old John Deer trimmer that I purchased about 15 years ago and got an eger attachment for, but you can get ones that work just as well at the link below. Just make sure you have a detachable shaft trimmer that will accept, you guessed it, string trimmer attachments. These edger attachments fit on most string trimmers and weed wackers and are convenient and do a great job for homeowners.

Here is my very old and trusty John Deer edger attachment.

Just make sure your string trimmer will accept attachments.

If it will, then ANY standard edger attachment will work. See below.

Long story short:

1) you need to weed whack and you can do so with a cheap one like the one below (make sure it has detach shaft capability)

2) if you already have a weed wacker with a detachable shaft, then get an edger attachment like these below.

That is really it guys. If your lawn is green then that is one thing, but if you have the edges (the details) cared for as well, you are bound to get noticed on your street. You don’t want to be “that guy” who lets his lawn turn to garbage. Instead, be “the one” who has the perfect lawn that turns heads! It ain’t that difficult!

Lawn Care tips are always free here on Life and Lawns! Tell a friend eh?

Wondering about what fertilizer is best and when to put it down? Get my custom lawn fertilizing schedule here!