Lawn Guide Scotts
Tune up your mower. Change the oil, air filter and spark plug. Clean the top and undercarriage, removing dirt and grass clippings-just be sure to detach the spark plug wire before working around the cutting blade. Don’t flip a gas mower over to clean underneath; simply lift one side and brush away dried grass.
If dried grass has hardened, loosen with a hand trowel or putty knife. Sharpen the mower blade, and replace it if it has large nicks or gouges. It’s a good idea to keep an extra blade on hand so you always cut with a sharp edge. Last but not least, fill the fuel tank. If you prefer a hands-off approach, take your mower to the shop, though you will want to do it in late fall or winter to avoid spring crowds. Note, too, that a cold mower can be hard to start in early spring. Warm it up by placing it in the sun for an hour or two prior to starting.
Enhance warming by placing a dark trash bag over the engine while it’s soaking up some rays. (Remove the bag before you start the mower, though!) Clean up. Walk over your lawn and gather any twigs, branches or other debris that has appeared over winter. Dispose of trash, and add small twigs and leaves to your compost pile.
Then, rake out dead grass. It can also go on the compost pile, unless it contains weeds. Repair bare spots in Northern lawns. Fix bare patches in cool-season turf using. Water newly seeded areas daily for at least a week, but ideally until grass reaches mow-able height. Avoid mowing until grass is at least 2 inches tall or the same height as surrounding lawn.
(Wait until late spring for Southern lawns.) Prevent weeds in the North. For Northern lawns where crabgrass has been a problem in the past, apply in early spring.
Follow label directions, and only use this product if no spring seeding projects are planned. Kill weeds in the South. For weedy Southern lawns, fertilize with, which kills dollarweed and clover, plus many other weeds commonly found in the South. Be sure to read and follow the directions on the label.
Feed the grass. If crabgrass wasn’t a problem, apply to Northern lawns around the time of the first mowing. This will give nourishment to plant roots for strong growth. If weeds weren’t an issue last year on your Southern lawn, feed grass with to help protect your lawn against heat and drought.
With all lawn fertilizers, follow label directions carefully for best results. Adjust the mower deck to cut grass at the highest possible setting for your lawn’s type of grass. Tall grass sinks deeper roots (which can seek out moisture) and crowds out weeds. Most turf types thrive with a 3- to 4-inch blade height, which usually corresponds to a mower’s highest setting.
Choose a middle setting for Zoysia grass and Centipede grass, and the lowest setting for Bermuda grass and creeping bentgrass. The rule of thumb for mowing is to remove only one-third of the total grass blade length at a time.
In early spring, soft soil makes edging beds a cinch. Using a sharp garden spade or half-moon edger, cut a 2- to 3-inch deep, V-shaped trench along beds to keep grass out. Maintain this edge with a throughout the growing season, recutting only as needed. If you’re refreshing existing trench edges in spring by digging out soil or mulch that has filled the trench, toss weed-free material onto planting beds as mulch or add it to your compost pile. Repair bare spots in Southern lawns. Use to seed bare patches in warm-season turf. Until it becomes high enough to mow (at least 2 inches tall), water newly seeded areas daily.
Spring Lawn Guide
Begin to mow when the new grass reaches the height of the surrounding lawn. Thicken a thin lawn by overseeding.
Scotts Lawn Guide
If you have a cool-season grass type (Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, fine fescue, or tall fescue) use which combines grass seed, fertilizer, and a soil improver into an easy-to-use product you apply with a spreader. If you have a warm-season grass type (bermuda, zoysia, centipede, or bahia) use the appropriate product for your grass type, and get your grass off to its best start by using.
Water newly seeded areas daily for at least the first 2 weeks. Wipe out dandelions. Kill these pesky weeds with, which attacks weeds without harming grass.
It’s a good way to kill dandelions because it avoids the pitfalls of hand-digging, which include disturbing grass roots and unearthing dormant weed seeds. Go after grubs. Late spring is the time that hibernating grubs in the lawn begin to crawl toward the surface to chew grass roots, before turning into beetles and flying off to find mates. Apply to deal with awakening grubs and new grubs that will hatch in coming weeks. Definitely treat for grubs if you had a problem last year or know that a neighbor is having a problem with grubs.