Its spring time and the winter did terrible things to your lawn. This isn’t how you remember it looking. Its time to get your lawn looking better than ever! With this guide, and a bit of work, you’ll have your lawn looking amazing!
Simply follow these steps in this order, for the best results!
1. Rake & Dethatch Your Lawn
A good tine rake can do both, raking can get exhausting, the better way is to use a dethatch machine. These machines have tines that brush against the ground, like a rake, lifting up debris, dead leaves and dead grass. Only do this once the lawn has been dry at least few days and all snow is gone, otherwise it can rip up your lawn. Dethatching helps promote new growth and helps let nutrients and air get to the roots or your lawn.
2. Complete Your First Mow of the Season
For the first mow of the year, we usually cut lawns at 2.5” to 3.5”. This first mow needs to be bagged to pick everything up. After the first mow, its best to stick to 3” to 3.5” for the rest of the season. This helps keep the lawn healthy, looking lush and thick! It also has weed control benefits, explained later in this post! The first mow is also when any debris and thatch from the dethatching process, would be picked up off the lawn. It's best to give the lawn a quick rake or vacuum as well so all the thatch gets picked up.
Mowing at 3-3.5" helps keep the lawn healthy, looking lush and thick! It also has weed control benefits, explained later in this post!
3. Aerate Your Lawn
Now comes the physical part, these machines seem like a breeze but with most of them, be prepared to get launched across your yard. They aren’t for the faint of heart. Aeration machines pull dirt plugs out of your lawn and they place them on top, this helps prevent soil compaction and allows nutrients to pass into the soil properly. Don’t bother to rake up the plugs, they will dissolve back into the lawn be gone in about 2-3 weeks.
4. Grass Overseeding
Overseeding is simply spreading a layer of grass seed over the lawn to help fill in the bare spots, after dethatching you’ll notice there will be quite a few of these that need to be filled. This can be accomplished with a simple broadcast fertilizer spreader or an overseeding machine which opens a slit in the lawn and places seeds down. Overseeding should be followed by the next task on the list, top dressing.
5. Top Dressing
Although overlooked, this step is a great way to bring your yard to life. Top dressing is simply applying about a ¼” layer (no more) of a high quality soil blend onto the entire lawn such as a 4 way soil mix. Please contact your local soil distributor for the best suggestion in your area. Some blends may carry weeds so it's best to use a recommended blend. Introducing a new layer of fresh soil is a great way to fill small uneven areas and reintroduce nutrients as well as ben