Spring Ahead

The last few weeks of winter are giving a tease of spring. The days are getting longer each day till the equinox on the 20th. Extra daylight to spend some time doing some early gardening chores like getting those Christmas lights that were frozen in place, pruning those broken limbs on the shrubs (snow damaged no doubt) and just look at that lawn, ugh!

So grab a leaf rake and lightly rake those snow mold spots careful not to damage the lawn. Restrain yourself the green will come as the grass starts to grow, so no need to fertilize now! Look at the shrubs, sometimes those spread branches can be tied up use heavy sisal twine and go easy.

Some chores need to wait: soil test after the soil has warmed up, crabgrass pre-emergent later in the month and fertilizer after April 1st, it's the law. However in preparation you can measure your lawn so that you buy and apply the correct amount of weed control and fertilizer.
The next decision is to seed or not to seed? If you had bad crabgrass, best to seed later at the end of summer, grass seed and crabgrass germinate around the same time when the soil reaches 55 degrees. So chose wisely or you'll have another summer of crabgrass.

Try the organic approach, corn glutton has some effect on crabgrass and also adds nitrogen to the soil. You need to take a few additional steps for a nice organic lawn. First you need a dense stand of grass, over seed, over seed, over seed! Keep the pH balanced and test soil for proper nutrient levels. Next the grass needs to be high 3" so the weeds are in the shade, next you need to adjust the watering. Most lawns are overwatered at the wrong time and under watered when the need is greatest. One inch either from the sky or the sprinkler. This may mean some work.

It all depends on your expectations. When I was in Ireland I looked at the lawns, every where 40 shades of green. Close up I noted the Irish are a tolerant lot, they overlook weeds and less than perfect lawns. So we may need to be focused less on perfection and more on the green.