When Should I Fertilize My Lawn
To maintain your lawn properly one of the most important things is to fertilize it. A properly fertilized lawn is green and healthy. It will also be able to fight external conditions easily.
In this article, we will cover when you should fertilize your lawn, the benefits of fertilizing it in spring and a few tips to fertilize your lawn properly.
When should I fertilize my lawn?
The perfect time to fertilize your lawn is in spring. There are many reasons for that and one of them is that the soil temperature reaches around the 55 degrees Fahrenheit mark. This is also the time period when the grass will start to grow.
Soil temperature shouldn’t be confused with air temperature as they both are different things. You can use a soil thermometer for checking the soil temperature.
The soil temperature would mostly reach the 55 degrees Fahrenheit mark around mid-April in most places and is the perfect time to fertilize your lawn.
Benefits of fertilizing your lawn in Spring
- Fertilizing your soil in spring allows the grass proper support before the growing period starts.
- It helps you take care of patches that have been damaged due to the cold winter season. For the proper development of damaged areas, spring is the best time to fertilize your lawn as it provides the necessary support for the grass to grow.
- Spring season allows better absorption of nutrients from the fertilizers towards the root system.
- Fungus or other diseases developed during the spring season due to excessive moisture can be tackled through fertilizers used at the right time.
- Fertilizers give a boost to the grass to start growing and turn green.
Tips for fertilizing your lawn
- Avoid fertilizing your lawn right after rain. This will help you to avoid the wastage of fertilizers and allow them to reach the soil.
- Most fertilizers have a combination of NPK which stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. The fertilizer packaging will come with a percentage mixture of these three ingredients. A good mixture for fertilizing your lawn in spring is a mixture of 20% Nitrogen, 5% Phosphorus and 10% Potassium.
Nitrogen helps in turning the grass lush green, the second ingredient Phosphorus helps with the development of roots which can be especially beneficial if this is a new lawn and Potassium helps in maintaining the overall health of the plant. - Choose a slow-release fertilizer. This helps give the lawn nutrients over a longer period of time which saves your time and money.
- Do not over-apply fertilizer to your lawn. Doing so can do more damage than help your grass. The fertilizer packaging should have a label according to which you should apply the fertilizer. The usage of excessive fertilizers also has bad environmental impacts.
In The End
Fertilizing your lawn in spring is necessary to give a boost to your grass after the harsh winter season. It is also important to choose the correct mixture of ingredients in your fertilizer and not to over-apply the fertilizer.