Click below to listen to my 2 min Garden Bite radio show: Spring lawn care in a strange Spring (2018)
April 2018 was fraught with freezing rain and snow and nothing like spring showers. That means lawn care practices have been pushed back much later this year.
As we get into the swing of things with the growing season, the University of Minnesota has several considerations for lawn care practices this spring. Go over your lawn LIGHTLY to clean up debris like packed down leaves, sticks and pet poop.
Preemergent herbicides used to prevent crabgrass must be put down before crabgrass germinates to be effective. They are just NOW recommending crabgrass control.
The University of Michigan offers great information on crabgrass control and a really great tool provided by Michigan State University that offers information on when to apply herbicides, pesticides and fertilizer to your lawn, when to plant seed, etc. and it uses your zip code. It’s called GDDtracker
Most of these herbicides have fertilizer and you want to make sure your lawn is growing before putting it down. When forsythias are blooming is generally a good indicator that it’s time. And they are in full bloom where I am, just south of the Twin Cities.
This link is to my information on snow mold and winter damage lawn repair.
The cold spring this year has certainly shortened the window for spring lawn care practices. With proper planning, you should still be able to accomplish all of the lawn care activities that you had intended to this year.
