NW Indiana Spring Lawn Care Tips

Editor’s Note: I like lawn care and have decided to begin sharing some lawn tips with ya’ll. Let’s make Lake County GREEN!

Spring has finally come to NW Indiana and Crown Point, and that means the lawn care season is in full swing! Aren’t you excited? I know that I certainly am. But what should be done here in the early season to make sure things get kicked off right? Here are 3 easy tips for ya.

Rake The Snow Mold Out

It’s been a tough winter (I say that every year ) and the long snow cover has caused a lot of snow mold in our NW Indiana lawns. Snow mold builds up under the snowpack and appears as matted, greasy or slimy spots in the early spring. The thing about it is that it is not that serious if you take a couple of simple steps early on.

First off, you gotta rake the snow molded areas. Now I’m not telling you to get out and power rake your entire yard, just run a hand rake over the areas lightly in an attempt get some air in there. Simple. Fertilization is the next part…

Apply Spring Fertilizer

You guys love when I use the term “starter fertilizer” and that is good because that’s what I want you to get. Don’t go buying that cheap stuff in the 4-step packaging. Get authentic starter fertilizer or seed starter. It’s a little more expensive but you will love the results and your turf will too. I don’t have time to go into all the math behind this, but we want to get about 1/2 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet of lawn in the spring, and additionally, a 1/2 pound of potassium and at least 1/4 lb of phosphorus. If you buy “starter fertilizer” and apply it according to the labeling, you’ll be very close to this formula.

These nutrients will also help your lawn recover from winter stress and snow mold that I mentioned above. They work in tandem; I love that!

Aerate Your Lawn In Spring

In NW Indiana, we have varied soil types. In Crown Point where I live, it is all clay, but if you live near the lake, your soil will be more sandy. Either way, we need to get the lawn opened up so air, water and especially nutrients can get into the soil. Aeration accomplishes this.

Spring aeration is the process whereby an aerating machine removes cores of soil from the lawn, effectively reducing heavy thatch and loosening soil. This is good all around and is a requirement.

If you do these three easy tasks this spring, I bet you will get better results in your lawn than you could imagine. So get to work NWI!

1. 

   Chris Hedges says:

   April 5, 2010 at 8:01 pm

   Hi Allyn,

   My wife is getting after me to fertilize the lawn — she saw some neighbors rolling their spreaders around last week. I’m glad you have the tips here so that I know what I’m doing, instead of guessing (and using the cheap stuff).

   Chris

   reply