Spraying a lawn

True Green is one of many companies that specialize in maintaining the turf areas of your property. I will not mention whether I think they do a good job or not, but I do want to give you a quick overview of the program that they do to people’s yards. This will be the quick overview and I will go into further depth of each step in later blogs.

I must first start out by qualifying the timeline I am going to mention. I live in Nashville, TN and have all my 21 years of landscaping. I know this area like the back of my hand. The timeline that I use is specifically for my area. You need to understand where you live and adjust accordingly. Such as, my ‘frost date’ is April 15th. That means, on average, we do not get any frost after April 15th. The further north you go, the longer that frost date is. I am pretty sure that Michigan is June 15th. Don’t quote me on that though. I will do more homework on sections of the country as I break down these steps in future blogs.

The standard 5 step program that needs to be done for the turf, is vital to the health of the grass and the elimination of weeds. No matter how hard you try, it will take up to 5 years to look like a golf course from the start of a new lawn. Not missing steps is key to the timeline. So let’s talk about the timeline, shall we?

It starts out in Feb. by putting out a pre-emergent. A pre-emergent prevents weed seeds from germinating. You can also put out fertilizer with this step.

In April, into May, you want to use a liquid weed killer for any weeds that got past the pre-emergent. I like liquid because it is more accurate. I will discuss further later. You can use a fertilizer again here, but I wouldn’t go very strong.

In June, or July, fertilize again with a slow release fertilizer. Be gentle because it is starting to get hot, and without enough water, you can burn up the grass. If you are going for a Bermuda or Zoysia type grass, now is the time to overseed.

In Sept, the most important step occurs. You MUST overseed with a good blend of Fescue. Compliment the overseed with lawn starter fertilizer. Yes, you can aerate if you so choose too, but in my opinion aeration, most of the time, is extremely optional.

The final step is in Dec. with using a winterizer fertilizer. This helps protect the root system and give the right amount of food for the dormant grass.
Doing these steps religiously will ensure your turf becomes healthy and weed free.

Happy Grass