Aerating your lawn in the spring will open up the root system to air, water and fertilizer, making your lawn more resistant to drought, disease, and insects. Aerating machines remove many little plugs of soil and root in a hurry, or you can do it with a hand held aerator if your lawn isn’t too big. Raking away the dead grass will also help more water and fertilizer to penetrate and remain. Fertilizing early will give your lawn a rocket start, but be sure to use HuMate Granules (this used to be called Soil Activator) when you fertilize. There isn’t any phosphate in most fertilizers, which is so important for strong, healthy grass, and the phosphate in our soil is in a form the grass can’t use. HuMate Granules introduces beneficial microbes that actually unlock the phosphate in the soil so your grass
can
use it. That is why it is so important to use HuMate Granules whenever you fertilize, so your lawn will stay thick, green and lush.
Preventing
crabgrass also has to be done in the early spring. Some spring lawn fertilizers contain a crabgrass preventer that kills the sprouting crabgrass seeds, keeping your lawn free of
new
crabgrass all season. Weed and Feed fertilizers are also best when used in the spring, but the weeds
have
to be up and actively growing for best results. The grass and weeds have to be soaking wet when you apply it. The weed killer is a powder and has to stick to the weeds in order to kill them. If it doesn’t stick, it doesn’t kill. Then, don’t water again for two days to give the weed killer a chance to work. Early spring is an excellent time to plant a new lawn because the cooler temperatures make it easier to keep it wet while it sprouts. Cover the new seed with a thin layer of peat moss or straw, and fertilize with a mild starter fertilizer. As soon as it is tall enough that the mower blades will reach it, mow your lawn regularly to help it become dense and beautiful, and feed it about once a month with 16-16-16 until it is well established. Any weeds that came up with the lawn will soon be choked out as the grass thickens. You can use regular lawn fertilizer once the lawn is six months old.
