Spring has arrived and your lawn is greening up. It’s time to start your 2024 lawn care.
Invest the time and money into 2024 lawn care if you want the perfect spring lawn. You’ll need to buy quality lawn care equipment and treat your lawn like a farmer. You’ll need to tend it daily to achieve the perfection you hope to achieve.
Here are two 2024 lawn care ideas you’ll learn about in this blog post:
- Tips for a successful 2024 lawn care
- 10 tips for succeeding with your 2024 lawn care tasks.
10 Tips for Succeeding with Your 2024 Lawn Care Tasks
- Evaluate your turfgrass
When you evaluate your lawn, walk through it looking for bare patches, snow mold, and moss instead of turfgrass.
- Rake your lawn with a lawn rake
Use a lawn rake to fluff up your turfgrass. A lawn rake differs from a regular rake, with its stainless steel tines resembling hair combs. The lawn rake will liven up the turf and encourage grass growth.
- Get a soil test
You should test your soil every two years to determine what nutrients are missing and to determine its pH level. Contact your local extension service for a test kit or directions for a soil sample.
Once you send in your soil and pay a nominal fee, the lab will test it and send back a report advising you on the ratio of nutrients needed and the pH level of your soil.
- Does the soil need a lime or sulfur application?
After you get your soil test back, you’ll get a report on the pH of your soil. Overall, turfgrass grows well when the soil has a pH of 6.0-7.0.
If the soil’s pH is below 6.0, you’ll need to apply lime to sweeten it. Conversely, if the pH is above 7.0, you’ll need to apply elemental sulfur to bring the soil closer to the middle.
- Get your mower ready for spring
Your mower needs tuning up and sharpened blades before the first mow. Sharp blades ensure the grass plant gets cut evenly without any ragged tears.
- Mow high and reuse those grass clippings
While everyone in your subdivision seems to cut their grass low to the ground, it’s better to take less off during the summer.
However, in the spring, cut cool-season grasses at 3” or more and warm-season grasses between ½” and 1.5” to relieve your turf of any winterburn.
Remember, you’ll need to adjust your mowing height when the grass grows faster and longer in the summer.
Lawn Care Starter Kit: How to Start Lawn Care with a Kit
Also, don’t be afraid to adjust your mower to mulching when you mow your lawn. When your mower chops grass clippings and leaves them in your yard, you naturally give the soil up to 25% more nitrogen.
Are you worried that those grass clippings will cause thatch in your turfgrass? That’s an old wive’s tale that’s not true at all. Recycling your grass clippings provides nutrition and conserves waste.
If you prefer not to leave grass clippings on your lawn, use them as mulch in your vegetable garden or put them in your compost.
- Dethatch your cool season lawn
If you didn’t aerate your cool season lawn in the fall, you may want to dethatch it come spring. All grass types have thatch; some species grow more than others.
Your lawn should have no more than ½” of thatch on it. You can measure the thatch layer when you cut out 1 sq. in. of turf.
You’ll see three levels: the live turfgrass, tan thatch, and soil. If the thatch measures beyond ½”, you’ll need to dethatch your lawn this spring.
- Aerate your warm season lawn
If you have warm-season turfgrass, you’ll need to aerate the soil to loosen it for overseeding and fertilizer. Aeration also allows oxygen, water, and light to penetrate the soil.
You only need to aerate your lawn every two years. Dethatch your turfgrass in the alternate years.
- Weed control for less weeds
There are two types of weed control that you need to apply to your yard, starting when the forsythia shrub blooms.
You must apply pre-emergent weed control to create a soil barrier that keeps grassy weeds, such as crabgrass and goosegrass, from germinating. If you plan on applying pre-emergents, don’t overseed your lawn because the weed control will also block your turfgrass from germinating.
A few weeks later, you’ll apply broadleaf weed control to stop dandelion, clover, and other weeds that flower and turn to seed. A lawn sprayer will help you put down broadleaf weed control.
- Practice smart fertilizing practices
Your soil test results will help you determine the correct nitrogen–phosphorous–potassium (NPK) ratio. Every region has different fertilization needs.
Contact your local extension service to see what NPK ratio you should use for your area. If you’re planning to fertilize your lawn, hold back on putting down broadleaf weed control.
Your region also determines what month you apply fertilizer. Use a combination of slow-release and fast-release fertilizers to help with greening up and dispersing nutrients over a longer period.
Lawn spreaders will help you put down slow-release fertilizers and cover the lawn accurately.
Learn more: How to Get and Maintain a Healthy Green Lawn
Ideas for Best Mowing Practices for a Perfect Spring Lawn
Part of a successful 2024 lawn care plan includes proper mowing. The sharp blades installed on your lawn mower will cleanly cut your turfgrass.
Conversely, dull blades will mangle the turfgrass and will cause injuries where disease and insect infestation can happen.
Here are five tips for properly mowing your lawn so that grass grows dense and green, crowding out weeds:
- Take off the right amount of grass
You should mow your cool-season lawn when it reaches 4” to 6”. With warm-season grasses, wait until they grow 3” to 4”.
When turfgrass grows quickly in mid-to-late spring, remove the top third of cool-season lawns. Warm-season cutting length depends on the grass type.
- Wait to mow until the grass is dry
Whether there’s morning dew or it rained the night before, always mow when the turfgrass is dry.
- Mow your lawn based on grass height
Don’t feel that you need to mow every Saturday morning. Instead, mow based on your turfgrass’s height. It’s okay for your grass to grow taller; it shades the soil and crowds out weeds.
- Each time you mow, go in different directions
Mow in the opposite direction each time you cut your turfgrass. Cutting in opposite directions avoids mower ruts and allows each side of the grass to get trimmed.
- Mow during the cooler parts of the day
Mowing causes turfgrass stress, and mowing at the hottest time of day adds more stress to you and your lawn. Instead, wait until the day cools off and mow in the early evening or late morning after the dew has dried.
Summing Up
When you practice 2024 lawn care tips, you can have the perfect lawn this spring and throughout the growing season.
Pre-emergent weed control stops grassy weeds; post-emergent weed control works on broadleaf weeds. Don’t fertilize at the same time as you apply weed control, and remember not to overseed your lawn when you put down pre-emergent weed control.
Don’t forget to aerate your warm-season lawn. If you live in the northern half of the U.S., you can dethatch your turfgrass if it has over ½” of thatch.
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This spring, complete your 2024 lawn care list by investing in Brinly’s Lawn Care Attachments. We have all the right products for an amazing lawn.
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You can buy your next Brinly lawn care products online. If you have questions about your Brinly lawn and garden product, contact our customer service today through our contact form.
Sources:
HomeDepot.com, Spring Lawn Care Tips.
ThisOldHouse.com, Spring Lawn Care Tips.
TomlinsonBomberger.com, 3 Tips to a Green Lawn This Spring.
