After a long Indiana winter, your lawn may not appear quite as pristine as you remembered it. The shape of your lawn in the spring will be somewhat reliant on how you treated it the year before, but even if you put a lot of work into it, don’t be surprised if it takes a lot more work to get it back to your desired state.
Here are some key tasks for you (or your local lawn care specialist) to check off in this year’s “spring clean up.”
Define edges
Whether it’s the edge around a play area, flower bed or sidewalk, months of harsh winter has likely brushed away those sharp distinctions between the areas of your property. In order to divide and conquer with what should be done within each distinct area — a little mulch here, some flowers there, and mowing over there — each of these dominions need to be re-established first.
Tidy up
After winter, you may be surprised by all the junk that needs to be cleaned up in your yard. Leaves don’t usually fully decompose by the spring, so you’re likely to have some remaining leaves to clean up when the snow melts. There will also be branches and other yard debris that accumulated over the season. There may even be toys, bicycles or tools that you find once the weather is warm again and you start spending more time outdoors.
Start mowing again
The spring is also when you start mowing the grass again, but be sure not to cut it too soon or too short. Give the grass some time to gain its strength again. Also let it get at least three inches long, using sharpened mower blades, before cutting.
In Bloomington, as in most of Indiana, we rely on “cool season grasses,” like tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass. These will go dormant in the winter, but start growing again when the temperature is still fairly cool. They will have already regained much of their strength by spring because they’re more adapted to the cold than their “warm season” cousins. This is good news since it allows us to jump right back into normal lawn maintenance.
Lawn care
Caring for your grass involves much more than mowing. Spring is a great time to assess the health of your lawn and determine what needs to be done to give it a good year. Aeration with a plug aerator is an effective way to allow some nutrients and water into the ground, which may have hardened over the winter. Fertilizing and weed prevention are also important at this time, so the plants you want are encouraged to grow, and the ones you don’t, are stopped in their tracks.
Call Anthony’s for your Bloomington area spring clean up
As the most trusted lawn care company in the Bloomington, Indiana, area, Anthony’s is ready to jump right into the spring season to help our clients — new and old — beautify their properties. Call us today at (812) 345-5694 to learn more about our spring clean ups or other services.
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