First Week in March: What You Should Be Doing In Your Lawn

It's been a dry winter and lawns are toasty brown. Grass blades have been frozen by winter temperatures and burned by winter sun. These old dried blades do not recover. In time they will be replaced by fresh green growth sprouting from the crowns and root system of the existing grass plant.

Every Spring Mother Nature gives plant life a chance to start over. The winter season has been a long time out. It's the first weekend in March and now there is a chance to begin anew. Gardener’s and home owners can't make Spring come one day sooner, but they can be prepared for an early start.

Uncle's Early Spring tips: 

1. First, mow the lawn short: Lower your mower deck one or two notches. Being careful not to scalp your lawn. Pick up the grass clippings and remove any winter trash. This low mow will cut off the brown winter grass blades and open up the soil to the warm spring sunlight. 
2. Second, give the lawn a booster shot of spring fertilizer. Golf Course Starter or Loveland Renovator formula will start the rejuvenation process four weeks early and help lawns thicken and fill in ahead of summer weeds and hot weather. 
3. Third, over seed any bare spots larger than a salad plate with fresh clean lawn seed and top dress with PrimeraFC top dressing or sphagnum peat. Avoid seed blends that contain coarse bladed annual rye grass or ugly field fescue; and do not use top soil to top dress weed free Grass Pad grass seed. Top soil will contain coarse weed and sedge seed. 
4. Fourth, water when you are able. Winter has had below average moisture. Surface conditions are extremely dry for turf. Water deep once or twice per week till normal spring rains arrive.

See Related: Tips on Spring Over Seeding

Spring thawing and frost heaves open up cracks in the soil that let in air and moisture. These cracks make March an ideal time to apply seed, fertilizer, lawn calcium and lime. Shady areas have been hit hard this winter and are ideal for mixes like Macho Mix or Estate Mix, If you have a house or rental property that needs a make over in the front yard look for a sports field rye blend like Stadium Special. This is real first aid for distressed real estate or a play area where kids and dogs have torn up the play field. Both fescue and bluegrass lawns may be over seeded now. But don't fiddle; new grass plants need an early start to be ready for hot weather.

Uncle's Rant: My Irish Uncle taught me a thing or two about thrift. He said keep your money in the mattress and always buy grass seed by the pound. READ THE LABEL! some seed bags are now only half full with grass seed, the rest is magic dust from the Leprechauns and Fairies. Uncle says this is like pouring water in the whiskey jug and calling it “Jack Daniels.” Homeowners should read the analysis label and only pay for the real grass seed. Recommended coverage is often so much blarney. Mother Nature puts the magic in the grass seed, the inert matter is just expensive dust.

See Related: When to apply PREVENT for crabgrass.

The Green Green Grass of Home

There seems to be something in human nature that attracts us to green grass. Ancient hunter-gatherers were attracted to abundant game on the vast grassy prairies, and the early herdsmen searched out the greenest valleys for their livestock.  Even the 23rd Psalm associates a sense of peace, protection and prosperity with lying down in green pastures.  While most of us no longer hunt or farm, other than for recreation, we are still instinctually drawn to green grass as it cools our environment, filters out pollution, and feels good between our toes.

Keeping a thick, healthy lawn is a great way to have a safer, natural surface for dogs and kids to play on, as well as reducing weeds and increasing curb appeal.  Understanding the basics of when, and how, grass grows, repairs and repopulates itself is critical to keeping your lawn healthy.  If we can mimic nature, we can use the grasses’ natural characteristics to maintain the lawn we desire more easily. 

Most Kansas City area grasses naturally reproduce through seed production.  If left uncut, grass plants come out of winter dormancy, using the rainy spring weather, and stored up energy, to quickly push up a seed head.  After this seed head matures in mid-summer, the seeds are then battered by late summer thunderstorms, knocking them to the ground, where they sprout in the warm moist soil.  The young plants focus on growing deep roots and storing up nutrients to help get through the winter, and to be strong enough to survive the heat that will be coming the next summer. Since we mow our lawns, the seeding cycle is interrupted, and we don’t get the advantage of young, vigorous plants, or the genetic diversity of cross-pollination.  That’s why we encourage planting HeatWave™ turf-type fescue blend, or BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend, in the late summer and early fall.  Grasses are genetically predisposed to sprout and establish quickly because of the warm soil, and by supplementing the fall rains. Frequent irrigation cycles and adding Loveland Renovator turf fertilizer your new grass will establish faster now, than any other time of the year. 

Some grasses also spread with runners called rhizomes.  These runners are sent out by the parent plant when it senses a bare spot nearby.  BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend has these runners and will create the prettiest lawn in Kansas City. The varieties selected for BlueWave™ have a deep blue-green color, and fine texture, which make it very desirable for those seeking a distinctively luxurious lawn. Do not dismiss bluegrass as being too ‘delicate’ in the heat of the summer. Decades of plant breeding and selection  have created varieties that are more vigorous, heat and drought tolerant, disease resistant and visually appealing.   Because of its spreading capability, and the fact that there are about 2 million seeds in every pound (10 times more than a pound of fescue), BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend is one of the most economical grasses to grow in our area. 

In areas that expect a lot of traffic, like sports fields, and lawns with dogs and kids, we like to mix the BlueWave™ with sports turf ryegrass, creating Estate Mix™.  This mix gives you all the benefits of the runners in BlueWave™, and adds the quick starting, dark green, and fine texture of the same sports turf ryegrasses that are used to repair golf course fairways and athletic fields.

See Related: Uncle's Best - Top Rated Grass Seed

Come on down to the Grass Pad, and ask Uncle about upgrading your lawn with BlueWave™ Kentucky bluegrass blend along with his Fall Renovator Program.  It’s not too late! Yesterday was better than today, but today is better than tomorrow!