Of the three lawn care seasons, Spring is the most straightforward. There are a few things we have to do, a few things we need to do if we didn’t get to it last fall, and a couple of general maintenance things. The secret to Spring Lawn care is to start early and be ready. While we’re not exactly suggesting putting down your first fertilizer application in the snow, we’re not not recommending it either.

Things we have to do:

1.       Fertilize with a high-nitrogen slow-release fertilizer. Betty’s Show Turf is the best fertilizer, and it is best to get out there and get this done early. Late February or early March is the perfect time to apply your Spring Fertilization. Earlier application while the ground is still cold gives us better root growth, which helps us come summer time. The longer you wait, the more of your fertilizer goes towards growing the grass itself, which means more mowing.

2.       Apply a crabgrass preventer. If you are in the sun in the mid-Atlantic, you get crabgrass. We define sunny areas as places that get unfiltered sunlight for four of the six hours between 11 am and 5 pm in the middle of summer. Anywhere you reach this threshold, crabgrass can grow, and an application of Dimension crabgrass preventer is strongly recommended, be it lawns or mulch beds. This application needs to take place in late March or Early April, but no later than April 15th.

Additionally, if your neighborhood suffers from Japanese Stilt grass (microstegium), Dimension should be applied not just in the sunny areas, but in the shade as well. Lawns, beds, back in the woods, everywhere. Applying Dimension is the best way to stop Japanese Stilt grass.
Like almost all crabgrass preventers, Dimension will prevent grass seed from germinating as long as Dimension is in effect. If you must seed, talk to our turf experts about how to use granular Tenacity to two-step your crabgrass prevention.

Things we need to do if we didn’t get it done last fall.

3.       Apply Gallery broadleaf preventer if you didn’t do it last fall. Just as Dimension stops the grassy weeds, Gallery prevents broadleaf weeds (dandelion, chickweed, clover, oxalis, etc.) from germinating. If you did Gallery last fall, congratulations, it’s still working and you can skip this step. If you need to apply Gallery, getting out and applying sooner is better than waiting, but make sure that it is applied after any and all spring mulching is done, as the preventer goes on top. Focus Gallery on the edges of your lawn and in the mulch beds, that is where broadleaf weeds are usually found.

4.       Dylox grub killer. Is your home more than 15 years old? If so, you should be applying Dylox every fall. Do you have a mole or vole problem? Apply Dylox. If you missed last fall, or if you have had an especially bad grub infestation, Dylox is recommended for a spring treatment. The window for Dylox in the Spring is roughly March 20th – April 30th. Remember that Dylox needs to be watered in immediately when applied, preferably by rain. April showers bring May flowers, so hopefully this won’t be too hard to time.

Basic maintenance in the lawn that happens year round.

5.       Killing weeds. When we see weeds, we spray and kill them. When the weather warms up, weeds aren’t that far behind. The vast, vast, vast majority of the weeds we see in Spring are broadleaf Weeds. This means almost everything in the lawn can be killed with a broadleaf weed killer like Speed Zone or Weed Free Zone. The biggest pains early in the season are typically hairy bittercress (the little white flowers that kick off spring in your yard), chickweed and henbit. All of these are relatively simple. Remember to mix in Wilt-Pruf when you spray so that your herbicides aren’t washed off by a spring shower or heavy morning dew. Spray first thing in the morning. And when it is colder at the start of the season, do your best to use warm water when mixing your concentrated herbicides.

6.       Lime. Liming is an important routine maintenance that people often forget about. It can be done at any time of year. The best time to lime is when you are going to remember to do it at that time every year. Apply lime at a rate of 40 lbs. per thousand square feet in your lawn.

But what about seeding you ask? Well, we try not to do any seeding in the spring if at all possible, especially in Sunny Areas. By the time it is warm enough for the seed to come up, it’s time to put a crabgrass preventer down, which will inhibit grass seed germination. There are ways to use crabgrass preventers like Tenacity to stop crabgrass but allow the good grass to come up, but there is very critical timing involved. See Betty’s Lawn Calendar for more specific details. Even if we go the complicated route of using Tenacity, and then Dimension later on, our new baby grass won’t have any root growth come summer time, and is usually the first thing to die when it gets hot in the summer. If the lawn is just a little sparse in a few areas, you can fertilize it extra heavily in early spring to thicken it up. If it is a small-sized dead patch, you can put sod down on this area (before your weed preventer).

In the shade, there’s no crabgrass, and it doesn’t get as hot. As long as you don’t have Japanese Stilt-Grass in your area, go to town when it is warm enough to seed.

And that’s Spring! Spring’s easy. We don’t usually have to worry about watering, or diagnosing fungus like in the summer. We’re not trying to identify weeds (they’re almost always broadleaf weeds) or figure out square footage for different seeds like in the fall. Focus on fertilizer and crabgrass preventer, and pick up the other steps where you need to. And then we’ll see you back in our lawn department in late May as we get ready for summer.