Preparing Your Lawn for Spring

Preparing your lawn for spring isn't really all that difficult, In fact, most of the work involved is geared towards you getting the various materials that you will need at a later date. To get started, all you need to do is follow these guidelines to ensure that you get everything ready for when you need it. Keep in mind that these are only guidelines, and that you are the only person who will know exactly what your particular lawn will need, and won't need. Use these guidelines as a starting off point, and you will easily find other items or tasks that you need to get or accomplish.

• Get grass seed. Go to your local nursery, and pick up some new grass seed. In order to know how much grass seed you will need, take a look at your lawn. You should pay special attention to any areas of your lawn that appear to be thinning or bald. These are the areas that will typically require a bit of work, and the more areas that you have, the more grass seed you will need. Be sure that you also choose a brand that is fairly easy to use, and one that provides grass that is native to your area.
• Get fertilizer. When you go to the nursery to get the grass seed, make sure that you also pick up some lawn fertilizer as well. The trick to choosing some decent lawn fertilizer for your spring feeding is to pick one that has a low nitrogen content. This will help keep the growth nice and consistent so that the roots also have time to really grab hold and develop firmly.
• De-winterize sprinklers. An important part of preparing your lawn for Spring is to also de-winterizing the sprinklers that you may have. This means that you need to remove any and all caps that may be on the sprinklers, as well as any other winter protection devices that you may have installed. Furthermore, you need to purge the air from the system, and double check to make sure that there are no breaks in the water lines. Do this by simply running some water through the system and keeping an eye open for any breaks. If you find any, repair them immediately.
• Keep an eye on drainage. While the snow is melting in your yard, keep any eye on it. Make sure that there are no issues with the water draining. If there is, make note of the problem areas and then get it fixed or cleared as soon as possible.
• Begin cleaning. As soon as the vast majority of the snow has melted, you need to start cleaning up from the winter. This basically entails that you pick up anything that doesn't belong on the lawn, and put it away. Get rid of any branches, sticks, dead leaves, or other detritus that may have built up over the winter months. Anything that you can safely be put into the compost pile, should be, and anything else needs to be disposed of properly.