Spring Preparation

Want your lawn and yard looking their best now the warmer days have returned?

• Aerate - Don your aerating sandals. Loosen up your compacted soil and allow water, nutrients and air to get to your lawn’s roots.
• Compaction - If you’ve already aerated, you’ve taken care of compaction. If not, see Aerate.
• Dethatch - What’s thatch? If your lawn is really spongy, you’ve got a build-up of thatch. If you can wait (or want to skip a job, because you’re keen to prepare your beef for a barbecue), hold off until the end of spring, as this is the best time to dethatch. Mow low to remove the thatch, but always only on warm season grasses.
• Fertilise - If your soil’s consistently above about 14 degrees, then it’s time to give your lawn a feed. A slow-release granular fertiliser, such as Lawn Solutions Premium Fertiliser is recommended.
• Leaves - Rake up your leaves and place them in your compost.
• Mower - Now’s the time to service or get it serviced. If you’re doing it yourself, sharpen the blades and discard your old fuel.
• Pre-emergent herbicide - If your lawn is free of weeds, good job! To keep it that way, apply a pre-emergent herbicide, such as OxaFert to combat potential infestations of, for example, oxalis or summer weed.
• Soil - If you’ve aerated and taken care of compaction, you’re almost done. You can consider using wetting agents or water storage crystals to maximise water efficiency.
• Top-dress - If your lawn’s a little uneven, throw a bit of soil on top. Make sure the leaf blades are still poking through. Top dressing helps to reduce thatch and improves drainage, too. You can delay this task, too, as the best time to top dress is in late spring/early summer.
• Weeds - If you’ve got any, then pull them out by hand. If you don’t have any, apply a pre-emergent herbicide so you don’t get any!
• Water - Water your lawn as little as possible and when you do, water deep. Long, infrequent soaks are better than light, frequent applications.

Congratulations on making it to here? Celebrate and get on to sizzling your steaks for your first barbecue of the season.