The month of April, in most areas is the time to start thinking about getting your lawn in shape for the upcoming mowing season.  Depending on the age of your lawn you may be a candidate for dethatching or aeration. 

 

            If you have a soil that is not hard, i.e. clay soil you can probably dethatch your grass without having to aerate.  Most people when mowing allow the grass clipping to fall back into the lawn.  After a season the clippings (dead grass) begin to build up on the soils surface. This process restricts water movement to the soil, as well as, restricting the amount of nutrients that your grass roots desperately need.  Dethatching can be accomplished either by using a specialty rake or an implement attached to your mower.  What we are trying to do is remove or bring to the surface the dead grass so it can remove it.  However, if you use a mulching blade on your mower you may not need to worry about this clean and remove process. How do you know?  Well, if you feel around on the soils surface and it feels spongy to the touch you need to dethatch.

 

            Aeration of the grass usually needs to be done every couple of years, depending on the soil and the amount of thatch. Clay or hard-pan soils are usually candidates for this type of process.  This system is the removal of plugs from your grass which will leave indentations in your soil.  This also will accomplish the same thing as the dethatching process. 

 

            One or the other of these methods should be used prior to the application of any fertilizer or any other ingredient applied to the lawn for the upcoming growing season.

 

            Please remember not to fertilize your lawn too early. Of course, that depends on your geographic location.  In my area that usually means the beginning of May.

 

 

Weekend Gardener/ Mike Wilson