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Cleaning up the lawn after a long winter is not only great exercise, but will truly help out your lawn for the remainder of the growing season!

Where does one start? First of all, take a walk through your lawn to discover any winter pest damage, snow removal damage or salt/ice melt damage.

If you notice little tracks through the lawn that almost appear like a snake has slithered throughout the lawn, you have had a little rodent called a Vole working your lawn this past winter. Under the snow cover, this critter will feed on the grass blades on top of the soil for sustenance. Don't despair! These areas will grow back after 2-4 mowing's this season.

Check for snow removal damage. Whether this is from snow removal equipment of your own or in the parking area from the city plow, now is the time to fix these spots. A lot of times the areas will actually be rolled up from the edge of a plow. Simply unroll these areas back to their original spot where they have been ripped up from. As spring continues, they will re-root and take hold without you having to re-seed or re-sod them. You may have to pack down any removed dirt and have it be as level as possible.

If you used ice melt products or salt this winter, you will want to pay special attention to the areas directly adjacent to any concrete where these products were applied. Even the products that are supposed to be safe for the turf can still cause some damage. There have been years on my own driveway that I had to re-seed the first 2 1/2 feet along each edge. If these areas do not green up with the rest of the lawn, you most likely have salt/ice melt damage and re-seeding or re-sodding is the only way for these affected areas to be green this year.

Many people ask me about raking. Raking is something that I normally do to my lawn, but this is on a selective basis. If you did not cut your grass short before snowfall, you will have a long job ahead of you. If the grass is matted down, you have to rake it for the best green up and health of your lawn this spring. You may even notice some off pink colored areas. This is normally an indication of snow mold, a fungus that needs to be raked out to help recover from. Although the pink snow mold fungus itself won't destroy your lawn, it will weaken it and open it up for more serious complications during the remainder of the year. Lightly rake your lawn early in the spring. This should certainly be done before you apply any pre-emergent crab grass control. Once you have applied any crab grass control products, raking will disturb this barrier and render your results less effective.

Don't forget to keep your lawn well watered if mother nature doesn't provide this for you. Even as snow melts, it normally runs off due to still frozen subsoil. If you don't receive timely spring rains, watering will certainly help.

The first fertilization of the season should be done in conjunction with a pre-emergent for crab grass. You will want to have this applied anytime from subsoil complete thawing up to the time when the soil temperatures reach 55 degrees. As crab grass normally likes the areas alongside your driveway/sidewalks, these areas will warm up the quickest so don't be late!

I hope this has helped you to get your lawn care thought process going for this spring. Remember, a little lawn care goes a long way! I will be writing more articles to help you out along the rest of the season so watch for more details coming soon!

Learn more about this author, Wes Engbrecht.
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