Prepping your lawn for the coming season? It can be a little trickier at our elevation here in Buena Vista… Here are a few tips from Bearss Landscaping Inc. to get you started!
First things first: Aerate your lawn. While seemingly tedious and inconvenient, aerating your lawn helps loosen the packed soil from highly traveled areas and reintroduces oxygen to the roots. It may seem like a backwards concept, “why would I put holes in my lawn when I’m trying to make my grass grow?” We get it. And we promise that aeration is a crucial step to growing a healthy lawn.
After aeration, look for any large holes (aside from those due to aeration) or dead patches in your lawn and fill in the gaps with new sod. When you have the sod, cut a piece that matches the shape of the dead patch, but slightly larger. The sod will compact slightly as it settles, cutting a larger piece prevents gaps between the new and old growth. Another option for regrowth of grass in the dead or thin patches of lawn is to spread new grass seed and a fertilizer to help encourage the growth.
Based on your lawn’s specific needs, you may also consider whether to use a pre-emergent to help kill weeds before they grow. Pre-emergent should be applied in the Spring.
On your first mow of the season, raise your blades on your mower to a higher than normal level. Mowing your lawn high at the beginning of the season will help prevent dead patches in the returning or newly growing grass. Contrary to popular habit, we also advise that you do not use a bag to collect the grass cuttings when you mow – throughout the season, but especially on the first few cuttings. This provides a natural mulch for your grass and is highly beneficial for growth as well as protection from the damage that comes from the sun.
An important cosmetic addition to prepping your lawn for the season is edging. With a metal edger, edge around your beds and walkways to create a clean line and remove the overgrowth from the previous season.
Other things to set your lawn up for success this summer: have a great lawn mower with clean, sharpened blades and a clean filter. Dull blades will not cleanly cut the grass; thus, you might find many stray blades of grass sticking up after a mow or many blades that have a ripped look to them. A clean filter in a mower serves the same purpose as a clean filter in a car, it simply helps the mower run more efficiently and effectively.
If any of this is starting to sound a little overwhelming, don’t let it! Bearss can help! We offer full service maintenance landscape packages as well as an option to add on a “Spring Clean” to help get your yard ready for the season ahead.