Clean up - Kick off the growing and mowing season with a quick spring cleaning.    Grab a lawn rake to rake out dead grass and dead remnants of annual grassy weeds, like crabgrass, goosegrass, and barnyard grass.     Pick up any sticks or other debris that has accumulated on the lawn over winter.
Mow - Be sure to mow high.     Cutting high encourages grass plants to grow thicker with deeper roots, which creates a lawn of healthy grass that will help to crowd out weeds.
Fertilize - While fall is the best time to apply fertilizer and herbicides; these activities can also be done in spring to get the grass off to a good start and keep weeds out of your lawn.     However, most herbicides will conflict with seeding, so it's best to choose one over the other.
Treat Weeds - Spot-treat dandelions or wild violets.   Use a weed killer controls that weeds without harming grass.   By spraying, you avoid disturbing grass roots and unearthing dormant weed seeds, both of which can happen when you hand-weed.
Aerate - Aerating punches small holes in your lawn so water, fertilizers, and oxygen reach grass roots.     Pick a day when the soil is damp but not soaked so the aeration machine can work efficiently.
Mow high - Gorgeous summer lawns start with long, deep, healthy roots that snake through soil to find moisture.   The surest way to encourage deep roots is by mowing high—as high as you can for your type of grass.  Sharpen mower blades at least once a season to ensure a clean cut on individual blades of grass, which helps reduce moisture loss.
Treat for grubs - Apply grub control especially if you had a grub problem last year, spot an invasion of beetles in early summer, or know that a neighbor is fighting grubs.  These pests munch their way through grass roots, resulting in dead patches in an otherwise healthy lawn.   Time your application for before or just after grubs hatch, usually in late spring or early summer.
Water - To keep grass green, healthy, and growing, provide at least 1 inch of water per week, either through irrigation or rainfall.  Time irrigation for early morning (between 6 and 10 a.m.) to minimize water loss to evaporation.
Feed - Both warm- and cool-season grasses benefit from summer feeding.    Warm-season grasses grow most actively during summer heat, so feeding helps fuel and sustain the intense growth.
Fertilize - For cool-season grass, fall provides ideal growing conditions.    Give grass a head start on strong root growth by using fertilizer twice in fall: once around Labor Day and a second time six to eight weeks later.    For warm season grasses, only one application is necessary, in early fall.
Reseed - Consider sowing grass seed in thin or bare areas of your lawn to ensure that grass gets off to a solid start.
Mulch leaves - Chop leaves with your lawn mower to create roughly dime-size pieces.    Leaves this size can lie on the lawn without harming grass and will eventually decompose.    If you dislike vacuuming leaves from under shrubs or along walkways, rake them into grassy areas and mow over them.
Mow short - In late fall, drop mower height and cut your lawn 1 to 2 inches shorter than normal.     In areas with falling leaves, a shorter lawn prevents leaves from matting down the grass.     In snow-prone regions, a final fall mowing on the short side helps prevent snow mold on grass come spring.
Limit lawn traffic - A key seasonal lawn care tip for winter is to shovel walkways to keep visitors from crossing the lawn so grass blades do not flatten or break. Trees and shrubs should be cared for by brushing snow off branches after a heavy snowfall so they don't break. If needed, late fall or early winter is also a good time to trim branches. While the limbs are dormant, the plant will sustain less damage than it would if you cut down branches when it's in full bloom. If you're ready to start thinking about spring, you can get a jump on it by ordering seeds and plants and starting them indoors in late winter.

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  • Did you know...?

    Fertilizer is a substance added to soil to improve plants' growth and yield. First used by ancient farmers, fertilizer technology developed as the chemical needs of growing plants were discovered.

  • Did you know...?

    Mulch conserves water, prevents weeds and feeds the soil. Mulch can be any material, such as wood chips, grass clippings, leaves and compost, even rock, newspaper or shredded tires, that is spread over the surface of soil to retain water and inhibit weed growthcan be used as mulch.

  • Did you know...?

    Lawns are three times more productive at producing oxygen than trees. Also, an average lawn absorbs 10 times more water on a sunny day than it does on a cloudy day.