What You Can Do in the Spring to Prepare Your Lawn for Summer

The spring season is a time when the weather starts to get warmer and the grass begins to grow in the yard. You can prepare your lawn in the spring using a few simple tips so that it’s healthy in the hotter summer months.

Aerate Your Lawn

Warm Season lawns such as Bermuda and Zoysia grass should be aerated after your lawn starts to green up. Cool Season Fescue lawns should wait until fall and combine with over seeding. Core aeration pulls small plugs of soil up about the size of your little finger. This loosens compacted soil, allows better water penetration, and allows the root system to absorb more nutrients. Contact us for a quote for Core-Aeration.

Mow

Should you scalp your lawn? There are differing opinions regarding scalping your warm season lawn. Scalping refers to mowing low to remove dead growth from last season. The benefit from scalping if you bag and remove all the clippings is that it allows sunlight to warm the soil temperature faster and can speed up the initial green up. The downside is that you are removing nutrient rich organic matter that will eventually break down and feed the turf. And you may expose more places for new weeds to take root. There is no right or wrong answer here whether you choose to scalp or not. But if you do be sure to bag the clippings so you don’t block water, nutrients, and sunlight. Otherwise mow your lawn the normal height and rake up any leaves or debris that has accumulated over the winter. Ask your Action Turf service tech if you would like more information about mowing do’s and don’ts.

Bare Patches

If you have a cool season Fescue lawn loosen the soil and reseed bare spots with the same type of grass seed. Avoid blended seed mixes as they will not match in growth and color. Keep newly seeded areas moist but do not over water. You should also consider our over-seeding service in the fall to avoid this next year. If you have dead or bare patches in warm season turf like Bermuda it could indicate a fungal or disease issue. Ask your Action Turf service tech about what can be done to correct these issues. If it’s fungal damage such as Spring Dead Spot or Dollar Spot unfortunately the damage has already been done over the fall and winter and the only thing you can do is to remove the soil and dead turf and re-sod the areas or wait for it to fill in on its own. Fungicide applications are available but must be applied in early fall to be effective. Ask for a quote for fungicide applications.

Water Your Lawn Properly

Your lawn needs about an inch of rainfall or irrigation per week to thrive. Usually spring rains in Northwest Arkansas will take care of that and then some. If we have a dry period be sure to irrigate early in the day so the water is fully absorbed and the lawn doesn’t stay damp at night. If you have an irrigation system now is the time to get it set back up and repaired if necessary. We can recommend an irrigation specialist if you need some help.

Action Pest and Turf has a Lawn Fertilization and Weed Control program to keep your lawn looking great. All you have to do is mow and water. We’ll take care of the rest. It is usually cheaper and more effective to have your lawn professionally treated than it is to buy and apply DIY products from the big box stores. If you don’t have our lawn service contact us for a quote today.