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Seasonal Tips
Spring
- Spread granular, slow-acting fertilizer. (This is optional if you fertilized in the fall or winter)
- Aerate the lawn to treat compacted soil.
- Mulch with organic matter, if necessary.
- Sharpen
your mower blades at the start of the season.
Summer
- Learn the signs of bug infestation, and head them off before
they get settled in.
- Water your lawn weekly if
rain is scarce or your soil is poor. Otherwise, water only when rainfall is delayed more than 10 days.
- Treat weeds and bare spots as soon as you see them.
- Sharpen your mower blade again halfway through the season.
Autumn
- Water trees and shrubs thoroughly mulched before the first frost.
- Don’t over-water! Plants and shrubs are expected to look a little brown in September and October.
- Mulch with organic material, or mow a layer of fallen leaves
into the lawn.
- Fertilize your lawn around Thanksgiving
to promote strong root growth during winter.
- Cutting
the grass a bit shorter just before winter to prevent it from matting under snow.
Winter
- Put burlap windscreens
around less hardy plants in exposed areas.
- Use
a broom to brush snow away from evergreen trees gently to keep the weight of the snow from breaking the limbs.
- If ice or snow does break tree limbs, have the limbs removed as soon as weather
permits – damaged trees are prone to disease.
- Put
markers at the edge of your lawn to help you avoid damaging it when shoveling snow.
- Avoid walking on frosted or snow-covered lawns.
- Use only non-salt de-ices for sidewalks and driveways to prevent runoff from harming plant life. Salt will damage
grass, perennials, and shrubs, and will keep the plants from absorbing much-needed water.
- Check any perennial plants during periods of thawing soil to see if roots are popping
out of the ground. If you see the plant’s roots, gently push the roots back in place, and add mulch.
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