3 Tips To Remember When Fertilizing Your Lawn

A healthy, emerald-green lawn can be the perfect complement to your home, giving a great first impression to everyone who passes by. On the other hand, an unhealthy lawn with patches and brown spots often reflects poorly on a house, even if it is otherwise in good condition. So if you're looking to make your front- or backyard lawn as healthy as possible with fertilizer, keep in mind the three following tips. 

Timing

Many people think of fertilizer as something of a miracle cure for their lawn, expecting it to work in a matter of days even in the middle of summer or winter, when weather is at its most extreme. The truth is that fertilizer must be applied with a fairly strict schedule in mind. Luckily, almost all fertilizer bags will have a recommended schedule printed right on the bag. But even without this bit of guidance, you should know that early spring is the best time to apply standard fertilizer, and after the first application, most homeowners shouldn't need to apply more than two or three additional times during mild weather. April and October are usually the best months for doing so. 

Application

Perhaps the most common mistake when applying lawn fertilizer for the first time is emphasizing the amount of fertilizer over how effectively it is spread. In fact, using too much fertilizer is not only wasteful, but it can also seep into the groundwater and cause a number of problems for local ecosystems. To ensure that the application of nutrients is even across your lawn, you need to invest in a fertilizer spreader. While a broadcast spreader is best used with a large lawn where time is of the essence, a drop spreader will be better if you need to target certain areas over others.

Water

Without water, fertilizer simply can't do its job as effectively. That's why it is recommended homeowners water their lawn a day or so before initially applying fertilizer. When your lawn is dry, apply the fertilizer, and then wait another few hours (or up to a full day if you have other things that need to be done), and then water your lawn again. This will allow the chemicals in the fertilizer to mix with the water and be carried down into the soil, where they can begin actually working. Homeowners who fail to water their lawns after applying fertilizer will usually see less-than-ideal results, including significant chemical burns to the leaves of grass. 

Reach out to a lawn fertilization contractor for more information.