The warm days of spring-summer are finally starting to return — but is the yard ready? If not, now is the time to get your home’s outdoors ready for the season.
According to the National Association of Landscape Professionals, more than 80% of adults in the United States do their lawn care themselves. If you are responsible for your yard but not sure where to start with getting it ready this spring, here are four simple tips to follow.
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Make sure your lawnmower is ready to go
With spring and summer comes grass-cutting season, so you better be ready to break out your lawnmower. It’s probably been a while since you’ve started it up there might need to be a little lawnmower repair or at least a tune-up before you start cutting any grass. Some common fixes and changes including replacing the spark plug, changing the oil, or sharpening the blade.
Have your soil tested
If you want your plants to thrive, a periodic soil test will provide some insights on the nutrients that your soil is lacking, as well as your soil’s acidity, the percentage of organic matter in your soil. Too many deficiencies in your soil can leave your plants stunted or with off-color leaves. Many lawn care companies will test your soil as part of their services. There are also do-it-yourself soil testing kits available at home and lawn stores.
Clean things up
During the fall and winter months, lawn care and maintenance fall to the wayside, and that’s OK. But, before you get into spring and summer lawn care, you’ll need to do some clean-up work from that downtime. Start by cleaning up or raking any leaves and other debris from your yard and gutters, pulling any weeds that may have grown up over the last few months, and trimming back any bushes that may have been left unattended over the cooler months.
Fill in bare spots
It is only to be expected that over the fall and winter months your grass will get a few bare spots. Toward the end of spring, take the time to spread some seed in these bare spots, so you can get your grass back. Don’t worry about using too much seed — over-seeding is best, especially since some of the seeds you lay down will be blown away or eaten by birds, squirrels, and other animals.
There is nothing better than a beautiful lawn as we begin to welcome warm weather and longer days. Now is the time to get ready!