How to Grow a Thicker, Greener Lawn This Spring

Earlier, Patch had a conversation with Cindy Collins, owner of Hartke Nursery in Olivette on all the methods to prepare a vegetable garden for spring.

Collins has all kinds of professional credentials as an arborist and lawn care specialist, now spanning some 25 years.

She now addresses the topic, how to prepare your lawn for spring:

Patch.com: Without snow, what are some of the first steps we need to take to prepare our lawn for spring?

Cindy Collins, Hartke Nursery: “First, we need to clean up debris or any sweet ball gums or twigs that might be out there. See if you have an excess of thatch. And if you do, there are ways to minimize thatch to encourage stronger, healthier lawns.

Patch: What can you do about that?

CC: “You can rent a power rake from some of the various rental places around, or get a manual one that does it just by hand. That just scratches the surface.

That mainly depends if you have a large lawn, or one that is smaller and you could do by hand.

Then, once you have dealt with thatch properly, you need to look and see if aeration would be helpful to your soil.”

Patch: Why would you aerate?

CC: “If the soil is too compacted, then a core aeration would help. That’s where you see little plugs pulled out and deposited back onto the top of the ground. Punching the soil with a hole can make it more compacted.

At that point, you can add organic matter. We carry something that we call Black Gold. You can put a dusting over that, and it actually goes into the holes and keeps the soil from getting that much more compacted. It allows for a good air flow and gas exchange for the roots of your plants.”

Patch: When is it a good time to fertilize?

CC: “Always in the spring. Once you fertilize, make sure you follow up with watering if we should go into a dry spell. Its also the perfect time to put down a pre-emergent.

Ideally, we would wanted you to have put it down in March, but weather is always the guide.

Pre-emergent, depending upon the brand will control the re-infestation of crab grass which is an annual so this is something you need to prevent every year, if you have had an infestation in the past.

Other pre-emergents will prevent other broad weed germs from emerging. A good product to use is one that has a fertilizer in it already.

If you plan to put a grass seed down, you cannot put a pre-emergent down. It will prevent the grass seed from germinating.