Start Thinking About Your Lawn Care Program for Next Year, Now
As your lawn settles for rest during the last leg of this season, you need to start planning your lawn maintenance schedule for the next year. Spring time is when your lawn will wake up from its winter slumber and sprout back to life again. Here are some tips from lawn experts about how to start thinking about your lawn care program for the next year, now.
January Through February – Winter
It’s cold during winters in Pennsylvania, and you need to continue with your winter care regimen that includes:
- Keeping limited foot traffic and heavy equipment off the grass.
- Allowing the ice to melt naturally as salt can damage your lawn.
- Cleaning any leaves and branches from your flowerbeds and sidewalks if needed.
March Through May – Spring
Early Spring – The weather is chilly in early spring.
- Clean up – Clear off leaves, branches, and debris from your sidewalks and flower beds. Put new mulch down.
- Pre-emergent – Apply pre-emergent to control crabgrass and remove weeds where needed.
- Mowing – Mow your lawn to help the sun rays and warmer temperature reach the lawn and bring about a greener turf. Ensure that you do not mow it to more than 1/3rd of the grass strand. Ideally, keep the mower at around 4 inches or raise it if the grass is too long.
- Fertilizers – Add fertilizers to your soil to enrich it with the right blend of nutrients like phosphorous, nitrogen, potassium, and other organic and natural bio-stimulants.
Late Spring –The average high in May is 71.8 degrees F and the average low is 54.1 degrees F.
- Weed control – Remove crabgrass and weeds where necessary.
- Fertilizers – Add late spring fertilizers to help keep the soil nutrient rich for plants and grass.
- Mowing – Mow your lawn once a week, or once every two weeks, depending on the temperatures, and growth.
- Water your lawn more often as the weather is getting warmer now.
June Through August – Summer
Early Summer – It’s warm in June with an average high of 79.9 degrees F and a low of 62.1 degrees F.
- Watering – Give enough water to the lawn, at least 1 inch a week.
- Mowing – Let the grass grow to give your lawn some shade from the hot sun. Keep the mower on a higher setting to leave the grass length at around 4 inches.
- Insect control – Summertime means insects, bugs, and other pests are at their best destroying your lawn. Get professional help from lawn experts if needed, to get rid of them.
- Weed control – Keep weeds in check by routinely pulling them out with their roots. Get help from experts who know how to keep them at bay and can apply the right herbicides if needed.
Late Summer – The weather is hot with an average high of 86.2 degrees F in July and 83.3 degrees high in August.
- Late summer insect control – Seek timely professional help to get rid of insects, grubs, and bugs lurking around your lawn.
- Late summer weed and nutsedge control – Routinely get the weeds and nutsedge removed before they take over your lawn.
September Through November – Autumn
- Fall fertilizer
- Fall weed control – Get those weeds off your lawn by routinely removing them.
- Fall over seeding and aeration
- Late fall liming
- Final mowing – Keep grass short to keep the moisture out and avoid conditions for mold growth.
After fall, comes winterstarting in December when you need to get back to your winter care routine as mentioned above.
Keep Your Lawn in Shape All Year Long
Managing your lawn to keep it healthy and vibrant, requires discipline and effort. But the rewards are worth the labor involved. With over 40 years of experience in lawn care, Greenskeeper is a one-stop, reliable solution to all your lawn care needs. From mowing, liming, aerating, adding fertilizer, and weed and pest control amongst other tasks, we do it all.
Call GREENSKEEPER at 215-938-8440 to help with your lawn care requirements. You can also contact us using our online form for a free quote.