Spring: Kickstart Your Lawn!

Winter is finally coming to an end and all you can think about is getting your lawn green and healthy again, right?! Or at least that’s what I’m thinking about (and maybe getting out hiking and biking). Either way, you’re here for some tips to get your yard looking great again after a long winter of it being snow-covered, brown, and dormant.

Snow

First things first, let’s get it exposed to the light and air! I’m not talking about shovelling your entire lawn, for the most part, let mother nature do the melting of the snow so you aren’t jumping into things too quickly. What I am talking about is large piles of snow beside your driveway or walking path that have been shovelled or piled there. 

As long as the piles are soft or slushy, I would recommend spreading the piles of snow out to help speed up the melting. These piles can easily hang around for weeks after everything else has melted and you will be encouraging disease (snow mould) to grow. This isn’t vital, but it will just encourage a more consistent spring green-up throughout your yard. 

Raking

This is a delicate job, but an important one to speed things up. Once the grass has started to green up, you can lightly run a fan rake across your lawn in order to get rid of any dead grass, leaves, debris, etc. This also fluffs up the blades of grass which allows air movement and sunlight to penetrate through to the canopy of your turf. This will speed up the process of bringing your lawn out of dormancy.

To note: I would recommend waiting until you see some blades of grass starting to show some green. This shows you that the soil temps are starting to get to a point where the grass can come out of dormancy. Fluffing up your grass before this won’t do much and it could matt down again before your lawn is ready to green up.

Areas where there has been snow mould, are especially important to rake. Snow mould in the spring will appear in the form of brown patches, they can sometimes be hard to spot until the rest of your lawn has started to green up and they remain brown or with a white-ish tinge. Mycelium, the part of the fungus which causes the disease, appears as white and fluffy sitting on top of your grass. This will quickly dry out and cause a crusty and hard layer. It is really important to rake this and break it up and allow new growth to come through. Not doing so will increase recovery time from the snow mould. 

Reseed

Now is a great time to fill in any thin areas or dead patches on your lawn. The most effective way to do this is to pre-mix seed (at the recommended rate according to the packaging) with some topsoil. If there are any dead areas of grass, make sure you give them a light rake before covering them with your soil and seed mixture to ensure that there is soil contact with your mixture. Simply throwing your mixture on top of dead grass won’t do a lot.

Keeping it wet is key to having it successfully grow. There is a balance here too, you don’t want to oversoak the seed as there is a chance it will get washed away with the water and there is no point. All you’re looking to literally just keep the seed wet, so it only needs a small amount of water

Fertilize

Spring is an important time to fertilize your lawn in order to jump-start the growth in your yard. Not only will it help your lawn start to grow, but it will also help it recover from these harsh Bow Valley and Alberta winters while also aiding in the germination and rooting of any seed that you have put down. 

We have a great organic fertilizer that is perfect for spring green-up. This is a very biologically active fertilizer and it is mineral and nutrient-rich which will start building your soil's ability to hold nutrients and water while giving it a deep rich colour. This fertilizer also has a smaller percentage of quick-release nitrogen in order to kick-start your summer lawn.

Read more about our season-long, unique fertilizer program and how combining our organic fertilizers into your program will help your lawn in the long run.

Remove Weeds

Basically, you have two options here: mechanically or chemically.

Mechanically refers to simply pulling the weeds out either by hand or with some sort of tool. It’s quick and effective, as long as you’re doing it right. To ensure you are doing it properly you need to make sure you grab the bottom of the weed and pull the root out too, otherwise, it’s going to grow back pretty quickly. A dandelion, for example, has what is known as a tap root (a thicker downward-pointing root) which is relatively easy to pull up by hand. 

Clover, the other main weed, also has a taproot but you have to be a little more careful here. Clover can spread pretty far from the original and main root so it is important to identify the centre and pull out the main root completely. 

Overall, mechanically does work and can be effective. But if you don’t get the whole root out, then it can be a big waste of time.

Chemically refers to a selective herbicide that when applied properly is completely safe to the surrounding grasses and plants. It is important to apply the correct rate, at the right time of day (if it’s too hot in the sun, it can cause phytotoxicity which will burn the grass), and to spray with the proper technique. Having my up-to-date Alberta Pesticide Applicators License ensures that I am thoroughly and professionally educated on proper spraying practices for any chemical that needs to be applied.  This application is also included in our fertilizer program and we guarantee its effectiveness.

To note: it is important not to spray herbicides too early in the spring. You will want to wait until the grass has completely greened up before applying any herbicide. Although the selective herbicide is safe for grass and plants, if they are still coming out of dormancy they could easily be knocked back a little bit as they are at a weaker stage in their cycle.

Summary

To sum things up; the above list is helpful and will speed things up for getting your lawn to fully bounce out of dormancy. They are definitely not life or death for your lawn, so just do what you have time for or are able to do. You are supposed to enjoy your lawn after all, not have it stress you out.