Summer days are right around the corner, and soon you’ll be outside enjoying your lawn again – soaking up the sun, grilling burgers and winning your family bocce ball tournament. Now is a critical time for ensuring that lawn looks great all summer long. We spoke with Duluth Lawn Care Inc. Owner Matt Marciniak, and he provided some great lawn care tips to help you pull off the best-looking lawn in the neighborhood.
1) Give your lawn a spring cleanup
When doing a spring cleanup, it is important to pick up any leaves or other debris off the lawn. Make sure the lawn is somewhat dry and that the frost has come out of the ground. Lightly raking up any thatch from snow mold or any winter kill spots will help the lawn recover quicker when the growing season starts.
2) Aerate in the spring and/or fall
Aeration is one of the most important things that can be done to your lawn, either in the spring or fall.
Aeration helps break up the thatch layer on top of the soil, helps with drainage, allows natural nutrients to enter back into the soil and promotes new root growth.
If you wish, over-seed your lawn right after an aeration. It is important to avoid raking up the plugs of soil. You want them to break down naturally on their own. Depending on what type of soil you have, and what the weather conditions are, this typically only takes a week or two.
3) Sharpen lawnmower blades
Mower blades are something that often get overlooked by homeowners. When mower blades are dull, it causes the tips of the grass plant to become frayed and turn brown. When this happens, it makes the lawn more susceptible to disease. We recommend sharpening your blades twice a season if you don’t run over any sticks, debris or rocks.
4) Use fertilizer and weed-control treatments
Giving your lawn the nutrients it needs, as well as weed control, is the most important thing that you can have done to your lawn.
Lawns need a variety of food sources that are typically applied every 4-6 weeks. Liquid treatments are more beneficial than the granular, especially when it comes to weed control. The problem with the granular pellets is that it’s hard to exactly pinpoint where those pellets are going. They often end up on driveways, sidewalks and landscaping beds. In my opinion, granular is kind of the “old school” way of doing things because people believe that is the only way to apply a slow-release fertilizer. If you are applying liquid, make sure that a nitrogen stabilizer is added into the tank mix. I recommend hiring a trained professional when doing this.
5) Hire a trained professional
When hiring a professional to work in your yard, make sure they are insured. This will take the liability off you as a homeowner if something were to go wrong. If you hire a company to provide the fertilizer and weed-control treatments, make sure they are licensed within your state. Summers are short, so hiring a professional will enable you to enjoy your summer and your lawn at the same time.
Good equipment care = good lawn care
We’ll add one more lawn care tip: take care of your mower, string trimmer and other equipment with AMSOIL synthetic lubricants and fuel additives. Lawn care is much easier and more enjoyable when your equipment starts reliably and runs properly. AMSOIL products help you avoid wasting time messing around with a stubborn, poorly running engine.
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