Step 1: Use a High Quality Lawn Fertilizer

The quality of your lawn fertilizer will determine how well your grass will grow. Granular fertilizer is very beneficial for grass because it protects your lawn from disease and weeds, as well as helps it grow thicker. Fertilizer helps with the lack of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that are sometimes missing from the lawn’s soil.

Understanding lawn fertilizer numbers can be a bit confusing. These numbers represent the percentage (by weight) of the three predominant nutrients required for healthy plant growth, always in the same order: nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (N-P-K). Each of these nutrients affects plant growth differently, and the formulation you select should depend on your specific gardening needs.

If you already have a well-established lawn choose a slow-release, granular fertilizer that will release nutrients slowly to provide nutrients when the lawn is growing at it’s fastest.

Fertilizer has numbers that represent the percentage of how much nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium it has. Each of these elements will affect plant growth differently, so these formulas help you to select the right fertilizer for your specific gardening needs.

Step 2: Choosing a Lawn Fertilizer Spreader That Works With Your Lawn

The main fertilizer spreaders are drop-spreader and rotary style. A drop spreader works best with small yards because it requires straight lines that are followed by overlapping patterns. Drop spreaders drop the fertilizer directly underneath it. There is a meter on the bottom of the spreader that measures the amount of fertilizer that is dropped. Drop spreaders are the most precise measurement spreader for fertilizer.

The rotary spreader, also known as broadcast spreader, slings the fertilizer out in a circular pattern about 3 feet in diameter. There is just one hole on the bottom of the spreader, which drops onto a platform that rotates the fertilizer in a circular pattern. It is no where near as accurate as the drop spreader, but the rotary spreader does a great job with most large yards. A lot of people prefer this method because there are less steps required to apply the fertilizer than the drop-spreader process.

If your yard has trees or other obstacles, a rotary spreader is better suited for that. Drop spreaders work well for yards with gardens because it will be able to prevent fertilizer from dropping in to the garden, unlike a rotary spreader. If you are using the spreader for weed and feed fertilizers, this can kill or stop plants from growing if it drops in to the garden.

Both fertilizer spreaders require parallel applications one way and then again perpendicularly. Applying the fertilizer this way makes sure that all the lawn is covered and properly measured so it is not over fertilized or under fertilized. You will be able to tell whether you missed a part of your lawn within the next week and a half.

Step 3: Following the Annual Schedule

On average, lawns should be fertilized four times a year. Be warned, however, that over-applying fertilizer can hurt your lawn more than help it. Aeration should be done in either early fall or early spring, and insect and weed control can be done at this time as well. Here are the general guidelines for what fertilizer should be used at what time:

Early Spring: Crabgrass & Spurge Preventer

Apply: March-April

Prevents crabgrass, spurge and many other weeds before they appear. Works up to 5 months. Builds turf with a balanced lawn food.

Spring: Weed & Feed (20-10-5)

Apply: April-May

Builds turf and kills dandelions and up to 200 broad leaf weeds with one application! Formulated to give quick green color and build strong roots.

Summer: (25-5-10)

Apply: June-August

Our best fertilizer, formulated with slow release nitrogen and a generous amount of iron to keep your lawn in showcase condition all summer.

Fall & Winter: (17-5-10)

Apply: September-November

A blend of nutrients specially formulated to keep your lawn healthy through the winter and provide early Spring green-up.

Step 4: Keep Your Lawn Longer

Keeping your lawn 3 – 4 inches long is better for your lawn then keeping it trimmed short. Longer grass shades soil, promotes grass to move to bare spots in your lawn, and allows moisture to stay longer. By watering deep, the grass roots will chase the moisture downward as the sun and wind evaporate the moisture at the lawns surface. Once you have established your lawns roots deep, it will not require as much water. Longer grass also instills better root penetration, which helps during drought season.

Step 5: Water Deeply and Infrequently

Contrary to what some people may believe, it is better to water lawn for an hour once or twice a week than water it everyday for twenty minutes. Running your sprinklers for an hour encourages grass roots to chase the heavy moisture deep in to the soil and provides deeper roots.

Once the roots have grown deep you can lower the amount of water used and water it more frequently. If you water your lawn three times a day for twenty minutes, about an hour apart from one another, this will give the water a chance to penetrate the soil, but avoid having the water runoff. Watering your lawn in the early evening will prevent the sun from evaporating any of your sprinkler water.