10 Tips for Clean and Simple Lawn Care This Spring

Spring is here; you must plan for the best lawn care routine. A well-maintained lawn increases the overall value of your property and makes your home more beautiful. Unfortunately, taking care of your lawn can sometimes be tiresome and time-consuming, especially if you don’t have the right knowledge to do the job. Well, don’t worry because we’ve got you covered. Continue scrolling below for the top 10 clean and simple lawn care tips to make your lawn healthy and your neighbors envious. Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or just a beginner, these clean and simple lawn care tips will surely help you. Let’s get started!

Tip #1: Prepare The Lawn Equipment

As you prepare for clean and simple lawn care, it’s important that you first make your lawn equipment ready. Do so in the early spring season to avoid last-minute rushes. Spring brings new life, which is why you will start to note that grass, trees, and bushes within your home will flourish exponentially. In addition, even the weeds on the lawn will grow high and in plenty. That means you should have the necessary equipment to help you with clean and simple lawn care because you already know that a lot of work is waiting for you. Besides the commercial lawn tractor, you also need the landscaping stool that will serve you for several months during spring period.

Lawn machines, pruning shears, and weed eaters will make your home and the surroundings habitable and safe without too much strain. Before using your lawn mower machine or any other outdoor equipment on a regular basis, you should wake them up from the winter nap. Do a thorough inspection to correct long-standing damage and clear rust. You should also consider sharpening the blades of your shears and lawn mower. Ultimately, the state of the lawn landscape will also determine whether you need professionals or not.

Like any other machine, lawnmowers can easily fall into mechanical breakdowns. However, before you hire a professional to handle complex and demanding repairs, you should first confirm whether the spark plug is properly installed. It’s also brilliant to check the oil filter and consider changing it if necessary. When you’ve confirmed that your lawn equipment is operating optimally, please restock the gas if you use gas-powered equipment or buy more batteries for the battery-powered electric tools.

Tip #2: Dethatch Grass as they Grow

Over the years, dead grass is more likely to build up in your yard between the soil and the living grass. The layer of dead debris is usually referred to as thatch. They should be cleared away before they grow to over half an inch thick. To avoid the thatch getting thicker than that, you must dethatch the lawn and remove this layer. The most appropriate time to dethatch grass is in its growing season, and that is most properly early spring. Well, remember that different grass types have variable growing seasons, and now dethatching will depend on the type of grass that you have in your lawn.

The two common types of grass are cool-season and warm-season grass. You should detach the cool-season grass during the start of their growing seasons. That is in early spring, between March and April, and early fall, between September and October. The cool-season grass has other subtypes, including Kentucky bluegrass

, perennial ryegrass, and fescue. Now, when it comes to dethatching the warm-season grass, you should do it during their growing season, usually between early summer and late spring. The grass varieties under warm-season grass include carpetgrass, Zoysiagrass, St. Augustinegrass, bermudagrass, and centipedegrass.

Tip #3: Lawn Aeration Is Important

Like any other crop, your lawn also needs water; you should aerate it annually. Lawn aeration is digging small holes in the compacted soil for the yard to breathe. The holes will allow water, oxygen, and nutrients to trickle down into the grassroots for your lawn to grow healthy and strong. The best time to do lawn aeration is usually after dethatching. However, remember that it may also vary because lawn aeration will highly depend on the type of grass, like in the case of dethatching.

The cool-season grass will need aeration in early spring. First, you must check whether the grass is suffering and the soil is compacted. Either way, you can wait until fall because weeds are less likely to grow in holes after aeration. When it comes to warm-season grasses, do the aeration in late spring as they grow. Notably, you should avoid doing lawn aeration in summer because the higher temperatures could easily cause stress on your lawn and hurt the grass.

Tip #4: Prevent Weeds

Annual and perennial weeds are quite common during the winter season. Luckily, there is a solution as you follow up with your clean and simple lawn care routine. In most cases, if you don’t wish to lawn weeds, apply the pre-emergence herbicides early in the spring season so that you can destroy the buds before they get a chance to grow. Remember that pre-emergent herbicides will only be effective for the weeds that have not yet germinated. Therefore, use post-emergent herbicides if it’s already spring and you’ve identified weeds in your lawn.

Tip #5: Carefully Repair the Bare Patches

Warm-season grass is more likely to get thin and patchy. Therefore, they will benefit significantly from hydroseeding. Hydroseeding is spreading new grass on an existing lawn to fill the patches. Some things that can cause bare patches in your lawn include pets, heavy traffic, and snow plows. It’s important to reseed the affected spots and ensure the lawn has a smooth finish. Once again, the right time you should reseed the lawn depends on the type of grass you have. Reseed the warm-season grass in the late spring, but hold on a little for the cold-season grass until early fall. After reseeding your lawn, you should allow the new grass to germinate and establish itself. You should also avoid skipping pre-emergent weed prevention steps.

Careful repair of the bare patchy areas of your lawn also involves using a steel rake to clear unwanted materials. If a stamp interferes with the uniformity of your lawn, you can opt to hire stump removal experts, and after that consult a local hydroseeding company for reseeding. Stump removal service is helpful because the professionals know how to handle lawn-specific instructions without causing more damage to the other areas of your yard. Before reseeding an area where stump removal was done, you should loosen the soil. After that, plant your seedlings and ensure the soil is moist. You can cover the seeds using breathable materials for security purposes if necessary.

Tip#6: Fertilise the Lawn

The warm-season and cool-season lawns need fertilization at least three times a year to achieve optimal growth. Remember that both grass types will benefit significantly if you apply fertilizer in the early spring as the growth resumes. However, before you start fertilizing the lawn, you should first test the soil to know its nutrients and what is lacking. That will guide you in choosing fertilizer that is beneficial to your lawn.

Tip #7: Don’t Water Immediately

As your lawn turns green in early spring, you can be tempted to water it again. Yes, that is common, especially if you have a backyard pond nearby. Watering your lawn is part of the essential clean and simple lawn care tips that you should do, but please avoid watering your grass after winter; just wait. The soil of your lawn will already have a lot of moisture and overwatering it again will lead to the emergence of detrimental lawn diseases and pests. There is no specific time that you’re required to water the lawn in spring. You only have to pay close attention to the performance of your grass and wait until you see the early sights of drought stress. Ideally, you should start the watering journey when your lawn starts to fade slightly in color, wilt, or even retain the footsteps as you walk over it.

After identifying the signs and starting lawn watering, please stick to your lawn’s regular watering schedule. The initial drought stress shouldn’t worry you because the yard will get back to normal within the shortest time possible. The amount of water your lawn should have and the regularity of application usually depend on the type of soil and grass that you’ve in your home.

Tip #8: Mow Carefully

You should mow your lawn as recommended

by the grass-growing experts. That is because the right mowing schedule and height will enhance the health of your lawn. Grass will also grow uniformly without problems. You can start smart mowing your lawn around April when the grass has grown to a visible height. In that case, you should wait until the grass is around 3 inches tall. It’s recommended that you mow your lawn after every week to keep the grass at the recommended height. No matter the grass type that you have on the lawn, never cut beyond one-third of the grass’s height once. For instance, if your lawn’s grass is 3 inches tall, the lawn mower should not go lower than 2 inches.

Tip#9: Control Pests and Treat Diseases

Clean and simple lawn care routine is never done until you ensure that the yard is out of threats. Pests and diseases can easily attack your lawn, but the good thing is that there are various ways to solve such problems. You must know that if your lawn has healthy grass, pests, and disease will always stay away from them. Unhealthy grass is more susceptible to diseases, and it rarely withstands the damage of pests. If you spot a pest in your well-marinated lawn, please catch it and take it to the designated place.

You should also be keen and ready to act quickly if your lawn is slowly turning brown and patchy instead of getting green. That indicates that the lawn is likely suffering from fungal disease. This is a common finding in spring because the fungal agents tend to spread more rapidly within the lawn during the winter and humid seasons. Therefore, it’s paramount to note these signs and act on them immediately.

Tip #10: Prune Trees and Clean Up Leaves

Pruning is part of the clean and simple lawn care routine because your lawn needs fresh air and easy accessibility to sunlight. It’s common to come across broken and disfigured branches after the winter season due to heavy storms. Therefore, do the pruning early in spring by removing the unwanted shrubs. Apart from pruning trees, some household flowers are more likely to flower after trimming.

You can consult the tree trimming services near you to know how you should do the trimming. It will be even better if you hire any staff from the same company to help with professional pruning. If there is a tree that you must get rid of to give your lawn a perfect shape, you can consider hiring a tree removal contractor. Well, it’s advisable to work with experts in designing a lawn because they have the right tools, skills, and experience to help you achieve what you want effortlessly.

Last but not least, clearing leaves in your home should come after the pruning process is over. You can hire home maintenance experts for a thorough cleaning or do it with family members. When cleaning the leaves, it doesn’t mean you should clear out everything, since some of the little pollinators and the insects need them for survival. Only clean the heavy piles, debris damaging your lawn, or any other unwanted leaves within the pavements.

Maintaining an attractive and healthy lawn requires a lot of effort and planning. The clean and simple lawn care tips highlighted in the article will help you even in the challenging spring season as weeds, trees, and grass flourish. Whether you’re a habitual gardener or a beginner, these tips will help you achieve a healthy lawn that will make you proud.