Best Lawn Care, LLC Ramsey, MN 763-434-8595

Spring Checklist For Your Lawn

Clean up. Rake up leaves, branches and other debris that can suffocate grass plants. Don't forget about cleaning out gutters and valleys on your roof. Do this first before cleaning up the lawn or the first wind or rain storm may make a mess of all your hard work.

Mow as soon as possible. As soon as the weather permits and the ground is firm, set the mower one notch lower than normal and mow the lawn. This lets more light in to trigger early green-up.

Fertilize. The sooner you can fertilize, the better. Try not to use a fertilizer with a lot of nitrogen (N), a balanced fertilizer will be more useful to the grass plants and will help to reduce excessive top growth. Fertilizers that contain a small percentage of the mineral iron (Fe) will promote a darker green.

Determine Your Fertilizer Need
Step 1
Get a good estimate of the total size (in square feet) of your lawn using tape measures, or number of paces, etc... and record that number in the box to the right. (ex. 13000 square feet) Do not use commas!
Step 2
What rate of nitrogen do you want to put down on your lawn? We recommend not going above 1 pound of nitrogen per thousand square feet. Use decimal equivalent - Do not use fractions ( / sign) in the box!
Step 3
What is the first number in the analysis of your bag of fertilizer? (ex. 15 - 5 - 10) This number corresponds to the percentage of nitrogen in the bag. The second number corresponds to the percentage of phosphorous and the third number, potassium.
You need pounds of fertilizer for one thousand square feet.
You need pounds of fertilizer for your entire lawn.

Prevent Crabgrass. If crabgrass has been a problem, you can prevent it this year at the same time you fertilize. You control crabgrass by preventing it from sprouting. Look for a fertilizer that contains a crabgrass pre-emergent (such as Dimension). Remember, to attack crabgrass during its germination period, aim for the last half of April - about the time the first forsythia petals fall. Do not treat areas that you are planning on seeding.

Seed. Identify spots that may need reseeding, and why they need reseeding. Is the soil compacted? Core aerate. Is the lawn getting enough sun? Trim low branches accordingly. Choose the right seed (sun or shade?) and look for high percentages of perennial type grass in the seed mix. Disturb the soil for best seed-to-soil contact, and fertilize with a lower-nitrogen (N), higher-potassium (K) formula to encourage root growth (nitrogen is the first number on the bag, and potassium is the last number, such as 15-0-10).

Phosphorus. New Minnesota state law prohibits the use of phosphorus (P) on lawns unless newly seeded or sodded, or if a soil test proves the need for phosphorus. Phosphorus is the middle number on a bag of fertilizer N-P-K. A bag of 15-0-10 for example would have no phosphorus.

For any questions or comments, please call 763-434-8595. Or use our Bid/Contact form.

© 2008 Best Lawn Care, LLC. All rights reserved.
Click here for our "Services" page. Click here for our "Lawn Gallery" page. Click here for our "Bid/Contact" page. Click here for our "Home" page. Click here for our "Links" page.