Caring for your lawn correctly in spring will make caring for it easier for the rest of the year.

It may seem like there’s a lot of effort involved, but if you care for your lawn properly in spring, it will make it easier to maintain for the rest of the year.

Here are some great tips for spring lawn care that will improve the quality of your lawn all year round.

Spring Lawn Care - Raking

Raking your lawn in spring isn’t just about removing leaves and debris. It also counteracts thatch, which is formed by dead layers of grass over new growth. Thatch build up can stop your grass growing as well as it should.

When raking, go in fairly deeply rather than just scratching the surface. This will help remove thatch and any dead grass which is waiting to become thatch.

Spring Lawn Care - Eliminate Compaction

Compaction can be caused if you have lots of traffic on your lawn, for example if your kids run around on your lawn a lot. If your lawn doesn’t seem as lush as usual, or patches of moss plants begin to appear it could be a sign of compaction.

You can hire lawn aerators fairly cheaply but most gardeners recommend that you aerate your lawn in autumn. However if you do discover a problem in the spring you can at least plan to remedy it later in the year.

spring lawn care

• Liming

Grass grows better in alkaline soil, so if your soil is too acidic you may find your lawn is not growing well. You need to find out how acidic your soil is before you lime it, this way you’ll know how much lime to use. You can buy kits which test the PH of your lawn which will give you an indication of how much lime to use.

It’s important not to use lime unless your soil is too acidic. It can’t be used as a preventative measure and if your soil’s PH is good, it will end up making it too alkaline which can also stop your grass growing. Bear in mind that it can take a long time before you see the results of a lime treatment.

Spring Lawn Care - Fertilizing

Your lawn can be fertilized using compost or mulch, or you can use a chemical fertilizer. If you choose a chemical fertilizer your results will generally be more consistent. Most experts recommend that you fertilize your lawn lightly in spring and more heavily in late autumn.

Fertilizing too heavily in spring can lead to more weeds and the risk of disease.

Deciding when to carry out your spring lawn care depends on where you live and factors such as late frost. As a general rule of thumb when you are fairly sure that any bouts of winter snow is over you can begin your spring lawn care.

For more information about summer lawn care visit www.gardenhealth.com