Despite the piles of snow all around us, Missouri Spring is just around the corner and your yard needs some love and preparation to give you a healthy lawn through the warm months!
If you want your yard to be beautiful and lush come summer, you need be prepared come Spring!
Like most landscaping projects, success is dependent on a head start before the growing season arrives. To grow a healthy, green yard for this summer, then you must start preparing in spring.
Below are Four Steps to Prepare your Yard to Enjoy All Summer Long!
Step 1: Tune Up Your Lawn Mower and Equipment
Prepare your lawn mower the summer grass-cutting season by performing a spring tune-up:
- Replace the spark plug
- Change the oil
- Grease all fittings
- Replace the air filter
- Clean the carburetor
- Scrape the mowing deck
- and sharpen your blades.
Tune-up your weed-eater, gas leaf blower, and other equipment in the same way.
Step 2: Clean Up all Fall Yard Debris
Missouri’s Fall and Winter can leave you a real mess come spring. Come early spring clean up all the debris scattered across the lawn like: branches, nuts, acorns, stones, twigs, litter, thatch and leaves.
Use a leaf rake to gather the debris onto a large tarp. The tarp makes your life easier. Don’t start your spring clean until the ground has dried. Lots of traffic on a damn lawn can compact soil and damage grass roots.
Step 3: Fill in Bare Spots where Grass is Missing
Treat bare and balding spots in your lawn during spring to make sure you have a full lawn for summer. Loosen the soil with a rake, then toss seed over the area. Rake the seeds into the soil and water thoroughly. Tossing hay over the area will help keep birds from eating your seed and prevent rain from washing them away.
Step 4: Spring Mowing Should be at the Highest Setting
The first time you mow your yard in Spring, drop your mower deck one inch from your normal mow height. The shorter grass will allow the sun to warm the grass roots, removing dead tissues from the grass, thus promoting your lawn greening up early in the season. Cutting your grass too short, especially in the hot summer months, will stunt grass growth and harm your lawn.
Jolly Lawncare recommends mowing on a higher setting than most, as this promotes deep root growth and healthy grass stems.