Fertilizing Your Lawn

Fertilizing your lawn is an important step in keeping your lawn healthy and hardy. There are really only two times of the year when it is necessary to fertilize to your lawn, late May, and early September. Fertilizing your lawn in spring gives your grass a good start on the growing season and provides much need nutrients after the snow has melted and many nutrients have washed away. A fall fertilizer application gives your lawn hardiness and provides nutrients like potassium which gives your grass strong root and ultimately helps it survive our long winters. Many people choose to fertilize their lawns in midsummer, but this is not necessary and often causes more harm than good. Fertilizing during the hot summer months can burn your grass and actually kill it because the nitrogen is applied too heavily to the lawn and nitrogen is activated more aggressively in the hot sun. When you are fertilizing your lawn be very careful to follow application instructions carefully. Applying too much fertilizing can be very harmful, and applying too little can mean you have wasted your time. Using a good fertilizer spreader is important and will help you to apply the fertilizer more evenly. Avoid hand spreading, as it tends to give you an uneven application. After fertilizing your lawn make sure you water it thoroughly and keep children and pets off for the first few days.