by Ann Sanders of AGreenHand
Guest Blogger

Achieving a healthy and green lawn in spring isn’t difficult. The previous winter season might have led to dry and brown patches, but sufficient lawn care will remedy these issues. In fact, you wouldn’t even need to rely on chemical products to keep your lawn beautiful. Here are our tips on organic lawn care in spring.

Check for Compacted Soil

The winter season has likely led to high foot traffic on your lawn. Accumulated snow and ice over time has allowed people and animals alike to constantly set foot in the area. Compacted soil isn’t good since roots cannot properly grow and establish themselves if the soil turns dense.The solution here is to aerate the soil using a spike aerator, plug aerator, or any other variant. K&B True Value offers spike aerator shoes that allow you to aerate the soil as you walk around the lawn. It’s not a common part of gardening tasks for spring, but aerating the affected areas is understandable.

Add Lime or Calcium

The application of lime or calcium in spring is necessary for achieving the right soil pH. Lime and calcium help to lower the acidity of the soil, but you need to know just how much must be used.

Some homeowners believe that they can use as much as they want, but an overapplication of lime or calcium would lead to a soil that is highly alkaline. Instead, you must conduct a soil test. K&B True Value offers soil testing for free. Simply take 3-5 soil samples a few inches deep from different parts of your lawn.

Afterward, put them in containers or baggies and drop them off at K&B for testing. Do note, however, that it takes about a year before lime affects the pH of your soil. Luckily for you, K&B True Value offers Mag-i-Cal, a calcium-based product from Jonathan Green, that is much more effective.

Rake the Lawn

You might be surprised but raking in spring is just as important as doing it in fall. Also, you have to do both instead of merely picking one. Some people think that raking in fall is all that’s needed — but that’s far from the truth. Raking in fall is primarily done to get rid of the fallen leaves, but it also lightens the amount of raking required in spring.

Using your rake in spring will help your lawn get rid of thick layers of thatch. Any thatch that is thicker than half an inch will stop the roots of your grass from receiving enough water. The clog-free leaf rake is one of the best I’ve ever used. Furthermore, raking in spring allows you to determine which parts of your lawn have been affected by the snow mold disease. Gently raking the affected areas will help the grass becomes less wet while preventing the proliferation of fungi.

Overseeding

Any bare spots in your lawn can be remedied through overseeding. In fact, you can overseed your lawn without aerating. First, get a lawnmower and keep the grass height to a maximum of just two inches. Collect the lawn clippings inside a bag. Next, get your rake again to remove any lawn debris and dead patches of grass.

Afterward, use a broadcast spreader to efficiently cover the areas with grass seeds. Do not use more seeds than what is recommended by the manufacturer on the label. A light irrigation of about an inch deep is required to encourage germination. Do this at least twice every day and lessen the amount once the grass begins to establish its roots.

Apply Organic Fertilizer

The application of an organic nitrogen fertilizer such as Milorganite® a month after overseeding will help the new grass to develop fast. On a similar note, K&B True Value also has Espoma® Corn Gluten to provide ample nitrogen to your lawn. Corn gluten is known to effectively give your lawn grass its deep green color while preventing the spread of weeds.

Try not to use any chemical fertilizers those can harm the soil in the long run. They can encourage excessive growth that makes the grass more prone to plant disease and pesky insects. Furthermore, chemical fertilizers won’t help in improving the amount of organic matter in the soil.

Irrigate Deeply

While newly growing grass requires light irrigation, the established ones require a deep irrigation. Failure to do so will make the roots grow in shallow areas and affect the overall growth of grass. In particular, the water should reach at least the first six inches of the soil. Get a spade to assess just how deep the moisture is located in the soil to determine if you’ve watered enough. Moreover, you 
can check a variety of sprinklers and timers in K&B True Value.

Overall, spring lawn care can be done without using any chemical products. As long as you have the usual lawn care tools like a rake, a spade, and a garden hose, you shouldn’t worry. Likewise, go for an organic fertilizer whether you’re feeding an overseed patch or your entire lawn. We hope that our guide inspired you to practice a more natural approach to lawn care. If you have any queries, be sure to call or visit K&B True Value.

Ann Sanders is Founder & Main Editor of AGreenHand, a one stop shop for organic living, organic gardening and beauty queries. With her endless passion for organic living, Ann’s goal is to provide her readers with a wide range of tips about a healthy lifestyle, with a focus on gardening, health and beauty.