Right now there is snow pelting down from the sky, so let’s think on this lawn care effort for a while. Even though it seems like winter today, spring may, nevertheless, just be a little early this year. There is actually a term for it: spring creep. Trees are flowering just a little earlier and robins are looking fatter than normal at this point.
What should we do first? On a warmer day, it is best to finish any yard cleanup; if there are leaves still blowing then this is an opportunity to clean them up. Be very gentle with the early spring lawn. Hard raking is not desirable when the lawn is recovering from winter.
When the forsythia finishes blooming, we can put down the crabgrass preventer but only if we are not seeding. Really, seeding is ideal in September but if there are unsightly bare patches sometimes we’ve just got to deal with them. If you can’t wait until fall, distribute the seed onto the bare ground and keep the seed evenly moist with frequent watering. In the summertime, this new grass will need additional water, at least 1” per week. Crabgrass germinates early. If you want to prevent weeds and you can wait on seeding, spread the crabgrass preventer over the developing lawn. Then, make certain it is watered in within the week. The one we carry here at Farrand Farms, is formulated for the Midwest. It has microorganisms that increase fertilizer efficiency and special microbes that hold the fertilizer in the soil, preventing runoff into streams. Good stuff!
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