Days get long, temperatures start rising and you can smell the earth wake up as Spring renews our world again. A gardener can taste the spring and breathing in the sunshine makes their fingers salivate in anticipation of tickling the earth again.
March is a great month to start prepping your garden but the best thing for your lawn is to let it hibernate a bit longer. The way you treat your lawn in the spring may well determine how much water it requires in the summer. Here are a few tips on how to maintain your lawn in the spring.
- Don’t mow it yet! Cool season grasses have a growing cycle that starts rapidly in the spring, slows in the summer, and gains speed again in the fall. As soon as you mow your lawn in the Spring, the plant has to take its focus off wiggling its roots down further into the earth and expend its energy on growing blades. The longer you wait to mow, the deeper your roots can grow, and deeper roots can draw from a larger water table in the summer. Now, if you just can’t stand the brown winter grass any more, start mowing and the lawn will green up lickity split.
- Rake out excess thatch. Snow can cause the blades to lay flat and leaving them that way makes conditions ripe for snow mold. Now is a good time to remove excess thatch from your lawn. Going over your lawn with a metal rake and bagging or using the clippings for mulch will give air, water, and nutrients easier access to the roots.
- Wait to feed your lawn. The most important time of the year to fertilize is in the Fall. If you put a winterizer fertilizer on your lawn around Halloween last year, your lawn shouldn’t need to be fertilized again until Memorial Day. If you didn’t apply a winterizer fertilizer last season, a 16-16-16 fertilizer will add strength to root and blade. Wait to apply until shortly before you start watering.
- It is a great time for weed control. Per-emergent herbicides, applied early in the spring, prevent weeds from infiltrating your lawn.
- DO NOT WATER! Stressing your lawn in the Spring is a great way to force it to develop a strong root base. After a wet winter you shouldn’t need to add any irrigation to you lawn until the middle or end of April. Setting your system to water before mid April generally proves to be unnecessary.
Follow these tips and you will be prepping your lawn to be healthier and require less inputs (water, fertilizer, etc.) throughout the year. Let the lawn sleep in a few weeks longer and you will have a healthier lawn in the summer. For more tips download Chanshare’s Lawn Care Guide at www.chanshare.com , check out our Youtube channel, or call 866-SOD-EASY.
We are doing a small “tips” piece on lawncare in our March issue ~ basically saying “hands off” at this time, as your site states above. We may also mention mention a few locally compatible drought-tolerant varieties as well, for those who are looking to redo their lawns. Can you tell me which is the preferred early-season month for laying sod?
Thanks in advance,
Greta deJong
editor & publisher, CATALYST
Sorry for the delay. If you haven’t already published, March and April are excellent months for laying sod. The cooler temperatures and increased precipitation allows the sod to adjust easier and to root down into the soil quicker. It is recommended to work a fertilizer into the soil before you lay sod to aid in root growth. Hope this helps.
Taking care of your lawn after a long and cold winter seems like it can be tricky. So, I am glad that you talked about how you shouldn’t water your lawn right after the snow has melted. It does seem like a good idea to have a service help you if you want to have a perfectly green lawn.
Great information and great tips. I enjoy learning more about lawn care to increase my education and services to my clients!
Thank you.
I never knew there was a difference between caring for your lawn during the spring and during the summer. What other times of the year should I be cautious when I mow?
I am very grateful for this advice because I have not had much success in keeping my lawn beautiful all year long. One of my biggest mistakes has probably been watering my lawn too early. I didn’t know about snow mold and the need for grass to grow stronger roots during stress. I’ll have to remember this for next year. Luckily, though the grass looked pretty dull for a while since April, it has perked up again for summer.
I had no idea that the longer you wait to mow your lawn in the spring, the deeper the roots can grow. I have always tried to take care of my lawn and keep it green and healthy. I will have to make sure that I wait next spring, so that we can have the healthiest grass.
Wonderful article full of helpful tips on how to handle your lawn in the spring. Thanks for the tips and I will make sure to keep these in mind as the spring time comes around. I agree with the what you had to say about watering in the spring or lack of to force the lawn to go deeper for the water. Thanks!
I just bought my first house, so I am trying to learn what lawn care is necessary. I know that “feeding” the lawn is crucial. Is fertilizer only needed for the lawn once a year?
Raking out the thatch is a great tip. I’ve never thought about the snow mold before. My lawn is pretty patchy right now. I would love to have a green lawn. I’m thinking about hiring a professional to come fix it up for me.
I want to make sure that my lawn is taken care of when spring comes around. It makes sense that I would want to wait a bit before fertilizing it again! I wouldn’t want to overfeed it or anything. I’ll make sure I wait for memorial day.
What so many homeowners don’t realize is that cutting your grass too early in the spring season can effectively kill it because the roots can’t grow as deeply. Also, dull blades will fray the ends of your grass much like dull shears will cause split ends on human hair.
I came across your article while looking for tips on what we should do with our lawn in the upcoming months. Using a pre-emergent is a great idea, especially because our lawn seemed to be full of weeds by the beginning of last summer. Thanks for the great info.
A lawn service is easy, but they often apply more fertlizer than is necessary. If you have a healthy lawn less fertlizer is necessary.
Justin, you can download a Fertilizing and Watering guide from the main page of our website. The short answer is that you should apply no more than 4# of Nitrogen per 1000 square feet per year. We recommend 2-4 applications per year for cool season climates with the most important application being a Winterizer applied around the end of October.
Cool Season grasses grow most vigorously in the spring and fall and slow their growth in the summer and winter. Therefore manage your lawn for growth from April to June and August to November. Then manage for weeds during the summer and prepare for winter by applying a winterizer fertilizer.
I want my lawn to look great this year. I didn’t know that I should wait to cut my grass for while, so I will wait. It’s getting warmer now, but I think I will still wait for a few weeks.
Both cool-season and warm-season lawns benefit from weed prevention in the spring. Pre-emergent herbicides work for about three months, so plan on a second application during the summer if necessary.