10 Ways To Completely Revamp Your Lawn Care This Spring
Let’s get straight to it: Spring is to lawns what a flake is to ice cream – the. most. important. thing. ever. And I mean that from the bottom of my heart to the tip of my greenthumb. Spring is your lawn’s BFF. It’s that friendly face she’s pretty keen to see after the rigours of winter, and that’s because spring is able to give your garden the level of attention it needs for your grass to start growing again.
The bad news is: you can’t just sit back and hope spring will do everything to make your lawn look awesome in time for summer. You have to help out a bit. You have to become spring’s trusty sidekick (Robin if you will), or you could end up regretting it for the rest of the year.
The good news is: By dressing up as Robin (okay, you don’t have to dress up), you’ll be giving your lawn all the care it needs right now, and that means you’ll be able to sit back with a few pina coladas for the rest of the year. C’mon. That’s got to be the best trade deal since I was at school (and managed swap my Squirtle for a shiny Charizard #Pokemon).
So, without further ado, here are the 10 ways to completely revamp your lawn care this spring (and if you don’t understand any of the terms, read this article).
Mow Regrets
Spring is here. And that means you’re grass is going to start growing up quicker than your youngest child. So it’s time to dust off your mower, sharpen the blade and begin trimming your grass. And I mean trim. Because it’s the first mow of the year, you’ll want to set the deck height pretty high so that you only chop off a third off the plant. If you don’t, your lawn will become more stressed than a Mum on the first week of the summer holidays. Right now, it’s about doing a little bit, more often, as annoying as that sounds.
Feed, Feed, Feed
If there is one thing your lawn wants come spring, it’s a big old Sunday roast. It wants feeding. This is because your grass plants are growing super-fast, and if you want them to grow up to be strong, healthy and a nice shade of green, you’ll need to feed them some essential nutrients. Do that and you’ll have yourself a nice, thick, dense carpet of grass (the sort that will get at least 3 fire emojis when you pop it on your Insta-stories).
Weed Them Out
Of all the weeds that fancy their chances in the spring, Broadleaf weeds are the worst. Thankfully, they’re a doddle to treat (which is a nice way of saying, ahem, kill). Simply grab yourself some pre-emergent herbicide – or all-in-one treatment – and have some fun. Of course, that’s not the only way of getting rid of weeds. As an alternative, you can yank them out by hand (make sure you get the root), cut them out with a knife (make sure you get the root) or even pour boiling water on them (make sure you douse the root).
Spring Special: Overseeding
Lawns tend to get a bit bashed about during the winter months. They succumb to a bit of wear and tear, dog wee, footfall and freezing conditions. If that sounds like your lawn, early spring can be a great time for some overseeding. The aim is for the new seed to germinate and make any bald, sparse or thin patches of grass thicken up, like Shane Warne’s hair did after he retired.
Revamp your lawn with Tip-Top Dressing
Only the most astute garden-owners seem to have that uneven-lawn-spotting ability, but unevenness is a common side-effect of winter. Luckily, these low areas can be evened-out with a dollop of top dressing. Just make sure you do any topdressing when the lawn is dry if you want it to work effectively. Not when it’s raining, not when rain is forecast and not after a heavy fall, but when it’s dry. Not only will this help with the uneven thing, but it will also also help breakdown the build-up of any thatch and aid drainage.
Big Mosstake
Moss is becoming a bigger and bigger problem for lawn-owners, and one that can only be dealt with properly through scarification. That said, if you want to double down on your “I hate moss” efforts, you can always apply a layer of moss-killer first and then start your scarifying. It will up your chances of banishing any unwanted moss from your lawn. Once you’ve done this, I recommend some overseeding because, more often than not, removing moss from a lawn can leave your lawn looking a bit think in areas, and overseeding with thicken these areas up.
Scarification Is A Must
There’s a thousand reasons why you should… okay, maybe not a thousand, but at least three reasons why you should indulge in a bit of springtime scarification and it’s all about creating a healthy lawn. Scarification is great at cutting through the build-up of dead grass, thatch and moss that might have occurred, and this doesn’t just help alleviate some of the stress on your grass roots, it allows air, water and nutrients to get down to where they are needed.
Gold Star For Aeration
In its most basic form, aeration is making holes in your lawn by pulling out plugs of soil, which might sound weird but it’s one of the best things you can do for your lawn, especially in spring. By creating lots of holes all over your lawn, you are relieving any compaction, improving the drainage and allowing your root system to indulge on all the air, water and nutrients it needs to grow healthy.
Throw Some Shade At The, Umm, Shade
Quick science lesson: Your lawn is green plant organism. That means it relies on sunlight (okay, and heat, water, air and food) to grow strong and healthy. Flip this on its head and you’ll see why shade is bad. Don’t worry, I’m not suggesting you turn your home into a bungalow. I’m just suggesting you get your favourite garden scissors and start cutting back any foliage, shrubs and trees that might be reducing the amount of sunlight, water and nutrients making it to your lawn.
More Maintenance, Less Weeds
The best way to stop those pesky little weeds from messing with your lawn’s feng shui is to keep up a good lawn care routine. That’s because a thick carpet of strong, healthy lawn will muscle out most weeds in a survival of the fittest like showdown. And it doesn’t require much work on your part either – just a bit of feeding here and there, regular mowing (with a sharp blade) and spreading some overseed on any bare patches. Do that and your lawn will work harder for you. Fact.
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