Maintaining your lawn all year round can be challenging, especially if you don’t know what to do in each season. For example, one of the most important tasks during the winter months is aerating your lawn; however, aeration isn’t recommended during the summer because it can dry out your lawn and make it more susceptible to weeds and pests. It’s important to stay on top of your seasonal lawn care tips to make sure that your lawn stays healthy, green, and weed-free all year long.
How to Look After your Lawn All Year Round?
Lawn care, like any other home improvement project, requires time and planning if you want it to be successful. The best way to get started is to know what work needs to be done and when it needs to be done. The same goes for seasonal lawn care, which can range from mowing your grass weekly in the summertime to raking leaves in the fall, depending on where you live. Fortunately, we’re here with some season-by-season tips that will help make sure your lawn looks good no matter the weather or season.
Reseed your Lawn
Once you have properly fertilized your lawn, it’s time to reseed. If your lawn has been over-seeded in the last year, a fall or winter seeding is recommended. However, if your lawn has not been over-seeded, then you can reseed it any time of the year. A common misconception is that fall seeding will produce a thicker lawn and better turf quality than spring seeding. Indeed, cool-season grasses (think Kentucky bluegrass) are best seeded in the fall when soil temperatures are cooler and the ground remains moist. But warm-season grasses (such as Bermuda) thrive in warmer climates and when seeded during warmer months, germination rates are much higher.
Use a Spreader
One of the most important tools for maintaining a lawn is a spreader. A spreader is used to spread fertilizer and grass seed over the lawn. It comes in two different styles: drop or broadcast, depending on what you are applying. Drop spreaders are smaller and lighter, so they can be used by one person if necessary. They also have an adjustable wheel on the front to control how much fertilizer or grass seed is applied with each push of the handle.
Broadcast spreaders are larger and heavier, but because their weight is distributed more evenly when pushed, it’s easier for multiple people to use them at once. When purchasing a new spreader look at features such as the number of different types of application methods it can do (broadcast vs. drop), size (6-8 quart capacity), weight (most weigh less than 20 pounds), and whether it has durable wheels that won’t sink into soft ground when pushing.
Aerate your Lawn
The best time to aerate your lawn is in the Spring before it gets too hot and in the Fall before it starts to freeze. Aerating helps loosen compacted soil, loosens thatch buildup, creates root space for better water absorption, and helps release nutrients into the soil. If you have a lot of thatch build-up, you may need to call a professional lawn care service. But if you’re able to do this yourself, just start at one end of the yard and work your way across as shown in the video below.
Aerating will help your lawn’s roots grow deeper. With deep roots, your grass will be more drought-resistant during summer months and more cold-resistant during winter months. Once all the ground has been turned over or nearly so, cover it with straw to discourage weeds from coming back through until springtime.
Fertilize
Lawn care is one of those things that, once you get the hang of it, you’ll be glad you started. As a result, your lawn will look better and healthier. When it comes to fertilizing your lawn, there are a few different ways that you can do this. For starters, if you have a lot of trees on your property or in your neighborhood nearby, they may be pulling nutrients out of the soil faster than they can replenish them. And don’t forget about lawn care Lynnwood WA, you may want to consider asking your neighbor with the pretty lawns what he does when it comes to lawn care so you can take advantage of his experience.
In addition to tree roots and fertilizer, lawns need water too. The best time for watering your lawn is just before sunup or just after sundown. That way the water has time to soak in instead of evaporating quickly due to the heat from the sun during daylight hours.
Trim and Prune; Deadhead Flowers, Shrubs, and Trees
The end of the summer may be a busy time for you, but there are still some things you should do to prepare your garden for fall. One way is to trim and prune any dead or dying branches from your plants. You can also help prolong the life of your perennials by cutting back their flowering shoots and shearing them with sharp scissors to remove any dead leaves or damaged foliage. And lastly, remember to deadhead faded flower heads on perennials and annuals before they go to seed.
Fall is the perfect time to start collecting seeds too- if you want to save them for next year! Make sure to label which plant seeds they came from so that when it’s planting season again, all you’ll have to do is reach into your jar and choose what you want! If you have grassy areas in your yard, make sure to rake up fallen leaves and grass clippings. If they’re left on top of the soil, the decomposition process will rob valuable nutrients needed by lawn grasses during this dormant period.
Remove Debris
One of the most important aspects of lawn care is removing debris from your lawn. You can do this by mowing and using a blower. It’s also important to rake up leaves and branches, which can be done by using a rake or a leaf vac. If you need help with these tasks, you can always call a professional for assistance! They will remove all sorts of things such as unwanted plantings, trash, rocks, and more.
However, it’s never necessary to do all this yourself – so save yourself some time and get a pro to come to clean your yard for you! Another task you should regularly do throughout the season is reseeding areas that have gone brown because of too much sun or other damage. Weeds may pop up in your lawn too, but they’re easy to control when they are just little sprouts. Get them while they are small by using a weed whacker.
