Time to Get Your Sykesville Area Lawn Ready for Summer

The change of seasons is upon us. Spring has filled the air in central Maryland with warmer temperatures, longer days, and more things to do outside. Before you start hosting those backyard barbecues and family-fun nights, you will want to get your backyard in order. Make your lawn look green, fresh, well-manicured, and new. Your friends at American Lawn and Tree Specialists have provided you with a few tips on how to get your lawn in shape and prepare it for those warm months ahead.

Start With a Lawn Clean-Up

Start with cleaning up around your Central Maryland property. Over the cold winters we have here on the east coast, branches from wind, dead plants, and items we store in our backyard can get scattered throughout. Excess debris and leaf pile-up can cause lawn diseases and different types of fungi to grow. To remove any debris and give your grass access to absorb the sunlight, use a rake to go over your grass to loosen up any thatch and break up matted down grass. Raking the lawn will help give the grass easier access to airflow and dry out quickly.

Start Weed Prevention As Soon as Possible

Weeds! They are everywhere and grow anywhere. Weeds are your lawn’s own worst enemy. They steal the resources and nutrients from the soil in your grass, causing stress and damage to your grass. This makes it easier for disease and pests to take over. You will want to apply or have applied a pre-emergent weed control to stop these weeds before they sprout and take over your lawn. Having your lawn professionally sprayed with a pre-emergent early in the spring will help reduce the number of weeds you have to fight off a few months down the road. Later, you will need to use a post-emergent to help control any weeds that were still able to germinate and are leftover.

Some of the most common weeds in Maryland are:

Fertilize Your Central Maryland Lawn With Proper Spring Fertilization

Now that the soil test is out of the way, it’s time for the fun part; fertilizing your lawn. Spring fertilization helps promote vigorous leaf growth so grass can get thick and prevent weeds from germinating. Grasses that thrive in our part of the country need to be tolerant of cold winters and warm summers. Those grasses include fescues, Kentucky bluegrass, and ryegrass. The growing season for these cool-season grasses is throughout the spring and fall, meaning right now is one of the most important times for your turf.

By fertilizing your lawn in the spring, you ensure that it has all of the nutrients it needs to have a successful growing season. Utilizing fertilizer at the right time and in the right amounts can help boost your grass’s immune system. Just like in humans, boosting its immune system can better assist in fighting off lawn diseases, fungus, pests, and weeds. To find out the right mix of fertilizer needed for your specific turf, we recommend first having a soil test performed.

Test Your Soil

A proper soil test can help you identify all aspects of your soil, allowing you to take the appropriate actions needed to protect and enhance your soil. A soil test will reveal the current nutrient status in your soils and whether you need to add any, and if so, what kind. It can also tell you if your soil is too acidic or alkaline and what type of grass is best grown. You can buy a soil test at your local hardware store, or you can hire a lawn care professional such as American Lawn and Tree Specialists to take one for you. Soil tests should be taken from different parts of your yard, including the shady and sunny parts and any parts that receive too little or too much water.

Invest in Proper Pest Control

Surface-feeding insects are insects that live above the soil, feed on, and kill the grass. They are small and hard to detect, but they can destroy a lawn very quickly. Some of the most common here in Central Maryland include sod webworms, chinch bugs, grubs, ants, cutworms, fleas, and ticks. These surface-feeding insects chew on the blades of your grass or bury inside and destroy the roots. Having a surface insect control treatment applied to the surface of your turf can help prevent pests such as this ruin the look of your lawn.

Get Your Lawn in Tip-Top Shape With Help From American Lawn and Tree Specialists

You don’t have to handle your spring lawn care alone. The professionals at American Lawn and Tree Specialists offer all of the services listed above and more. Our highly effective Organic-Based Lawn Care Program provides the appropriate amount of fertilization applied at precisely the right time. Each new customer is started off with a soil test to help identify your current soil’s pH level and nutrient deficiencies. Our lawn care program also contains both a pre-emergent and post-emergent for weed control.

Where We Service

American Lawn and Tree Specialists currently works in:

• Bel Air
• Ellicott City
• Frederick
• Gaithersburg
• Sykesville
• And more!