March in most parts of Wyoming sees an explosion of lawn companies
doing spring clean up. Now I'm all for spring clean up, but we can
overdo it to the detriment of our lawns.
If you plan to use a lawn power
raker, don't set the tines so deep that they scrape the surface of the
soil. Two bad things happen, first by scraping the soil; in essence you
are creating a planting bed for weeds - namely dandelions to get a foot
hold.
And second, the point at which
grasses begin growth is at the soil surface. By over doing it with the
powerraker we cut this growing point to shreds actually stressing the
lawn before it even has a chance to grow. So my advice is set the tines
so it picks up leaf matter but does not touch the surface of the soil.
March is not the time to fertilize, wait till May when the grasses are
actively growing then apply.
