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Seasonal Tips
Spring
- Spread granular, slow-acting fertilizer. (This is optional
if you fertilized in the fall or winter)
- Aerate the lawn to treat compacted soil.
- Mulch with organic matter, if necessary.
- Sharpen your mower blades at the start of the season.
Summer
- Learn the signs of bug infestation, and head them off before they get settled in.
- Water your lawn weekly if rain is scarce or your soil is
poor. Otherwise, water only when rainfall is delayed more than 10 days.
- Treat weeds and bare spots as soon as you see them.
- Sharpen your mower blade again halfway through the season.
Autumn
- Water trees and shrubs thoroughly mulched before the first frost.
- Don’t over-water! Plants and shrubs are expected to
look a little brown in September and October.
- Mulch with organic material, or mow a layer of fallen leaves into the lawn.
- Fertilize your lawn around Thanksgiving to promote strong
root growth during winter.
- Cutting
the grass a bit shorter just before winter to prevent it from matting under snow.
Winter
- Put burlap windscreens around less hardy plants in exposed areas.
- Use a broom to brush snow away from evergreen trees gently
to keep the weight of the snow from breaking the limbs.
- If ice or snow does break tree limbs, have the limbs removed as soon as weather permits – damaged
trees are prone to disease.
- Put
markers at the edge of your lawn to help you avoid damaging it when shoveling snow.
- Avoid walking on frosted or snow-covered lawns.
- Use only non-salt de-ices for sidewalks and driveways to prevent runoff from harming plant life.
Salt will damage grass, perennials, and shrubs, and will keep the plants from absorbing much-needed water.
- Check any perennial plants during periods of thawing soil
to see if roots are popping out of the ground. If you see the plant’s roots, gently push the roots back in place, and
add mulch.
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