No Lawn Left Behind: Five Tips to Prepare Your Lawn and Garden for Spring 2012

No Lawn Left Behind. Five Easy Tips for Spring Preparation:

1. Treat your lawn with pre-emergent chemicals with a high nitrogen count, low phosphate count, and potash. A recommended formula would be 25-10-10. Don't forget to use some weed control.

2. Add a fresh coat of mulch to your beds (1.5" of topcoat is recommended) and remove old nasty mulch.

3. Plant your Spring Annuals (Inpatients, Petunias, Pansies). Start your seedlings indoors to control a healthy start in a predictable environment.

4. Start your sprinkler system and water your yard 1-2 times per week. Run a water hose on your rain sensor to make sure it is active. A rain sensor should deactivate sprinklers after 1/4" of accumulated rain water. Check the water coverage for beds and make sure to adequately water all your plants and shrubs.

5. Water your grass once per week until June. As the weather becomes warmer and rainy days more infrequent, add additional minutes to watering your lawn.