Here we are, it’s almost April… After what seemed like 372 years of March. But, one of the things we can do while we are sheltering in place is landscaping. And, that certainly doesn’t stop First Fruits Landscaping from coming out and doing your general maintenance. While we may not be able to talk face-to-face and come up with new creative designs for your landscaping, we can maintain your monthly or weekly maintenance.
Since most maintenance is not done face-to-face, we can simply text you and let you know we are on the way, do all of the general landscaping maintenance that needs to be done, and head out without ever even having to see you in person. Of course, if you want away from the window, that is perfectly acceptable and encouraged!
If you’re planning on doing some of your own yard maintenance or you’d like to know what we do during the month of April, here are 5 yard maintenance tasks for April.
#1. Aeration
Aeration is a crucial aspect to a healthy lawn. Grassroots need air, water, and nutrients to grow healthy and strong. When soil gets compacted, it can inhibit the flow of essential nutrients and water. Even just a layer of 1/4 – 1/2 inch can make a significant difference in the health and beauty of your yard. Aeration creates holes down into the soil to alleviate the compaction so that air, fertilizer, and water can reach the roots.
Even just a single aeration session can open up the avenue for all these essential nutrients to reach their mark. Laws should be air rated every April and at least once or twice a year. This is different than Dethatching. Such is the layer of organic matter that forms at the lawn’s surface and if it gets more than 1/2 inch thick, it could prevent even more compaction, which leads to our second task.
#2. Dethatching
Dethatching, like I mentioned, is different than aeration. Aeration gets down into the soil where the thatch sits at the top. This could be a combination of moss, weeds, and dead grass that is not broken down and gotten into the soil. Detatching a lawn means to take up that thatch or the dead turfgrass that is strangling the healthy blades trying to get through. Preventing thatch buildup is not nearly as big of part of lawn care as mowing but it is one of those things that should be done from time to time and April is the perfect month to do it.
Contact First Fruits Landscaping to handle all of your thatching needs. We use rakes and sometimes use mechanical devices to take care of the thatch allowing more light, air, water, and nutrients to reach your grass and their roots. When aeration is not enough, detatching may be necessary. Typically the early spring or early fall is one of the best times to do this.
#3. Top dressing
Despite your best efforts, sometimes Alana just needs a do-over. This is where top dressing comes into play. Weeds, fungus, grubs, and stress can attack and ruin your lawn so in addition to aerating and detatching, top dressing is the process of spreading a thin layer of material such as compost or sand over the lawn and sections of the lawn about one-quarter of an inch thick to amend the soil in different places or altogether.
This is a tricky scenario, however, because you don’t want to suffocate your lawn so it’s important to be cautious when doing this yourself or have us do it for you. The benefits of top dressing means that your soil will be improved, it will break down any thatch, it will level your lawn, help seeds germinate, and it will help in renovating a distressed lawn.
Related: 8 Things You Should Never Store in a Garden Shed
#4. Overseed
The name alone has connotations of this might be a negative thing, but during the spring, overseeding your lawn is actually a great way to jumpstart any new growth. You’ll want to mow the lawn to the lowest setting, bag the clippings, fill your spreader with grass seed, fertilizer and a soil improver and water daily for the first two weeks.
#5. Lime
Spring is also a wonderful time to lime a yard. No, I’m not talking about having a Margarita party on your front lawn, although that might not be a bad idea right now… But the type of lima I’m talking about is a soil amendment made from ground limestone rock. This naturally contains calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate, which can increase the soil’s pH making it less ascetic and more alkaline, perfect for Northwest lawns.
Most soil around the Pacific Northwest is very acidic so spring and fall is a great time to add more lima to your yard and First Fruits Landscaping can do this for you.
When you are ready to have some April yard maintenance completed on your yard, give us a call for an over the phone quote. Remember, we can do everything remotely and because fresh air is the best remedy for a healthy future, now is a perfect time to consider some DIY landscaping or having it professionally done.