5 Steps to Get Your Lawn Ready for Spring

Dan Toth and his wife Kim started their Lawn Doctor business in 2011 and enjoy being able to help their customers achieve healthier, thicker grass the easier way. The Toths have their franchises located in the Western suburbs of Chicago and are proudly servicing thousands of happy customers.

Here are Dan’s five steps to help you get your lawn ready for spring.

1. Snow can cause serious damage to your lawn so once it has fully melted, you will want to survey your outdoor space and assess the issues. If there has been a lot of snowfall or plowing of snow onto your yard, this can create turf damage. Toth suggests to look for places where you may have to do some quick repairs, especially if it’s in a place where your home’s curb appeal will be affected. Front lawns may need quicker action for this reason. If there are still big piles of snow, start to break them up, including the chunks of ice. Consider doing this on a sunny day to help it melt even faster.

2. To continue to help your lawn dry further, you will want to clean up any debris. Remove leaves, sticks and any other kind of debris that is going to shelter the turf from sunlight. Toth explains, “If you have places on your lawn where you’ve had some old turf matted down, use a leaf rake to pull the turf up in order to help dry it out. It’s good to lift up the turf and let the blades dry out where you can, because you don’t want mowers going over a wet, matted area.”

3. Once your turf is dry enough to take out your mower, Toth recommends mowing it on low, which is the only time you should do that. Use the mower to pull up and trim the blades and dormant, dead turf. And tuning up your power equipment should also be part of your spring process if your mower needs it. Check the blades and the heights. If you didn’t drain the gas out and put a fuel stabilizer in, you may need to take some extra maintenance steps to make sure it starts and runs properly. Sharpening the cutting blade or replacing it altogether are two of the main steps you may need to take to ensure it will cut your lawn properly.

4. Once you have taken steps one through three, you will be ready to aerate your lawn. “Here in the Midwest, we have lots of soil that contains a very high percentage of clay and we tend to have a lot of soil compaction issues. In sunnier places of your lawn, aerating is a good idea in both the spring and fall,” said Toth.

5. Lastly, you will want to fertilize and feed your lawn. Once your grass starts to get greener and the soil temperatures warm up, you want to be prepared to feed it. And that’s where Lawn Doctor comes in to help with its expertise. If you have any disease issues in your lawn or trouble spots, your local Lawn Doctor will help advise on the next steps.