How to Fertilize Your Lawn in Spring, Summer, and Fall

Lawn care is an art, not a science, How to fertilize your lawn in spring, summer, and fall is a science that should be learned so that you can maximize yield in each month. Your lawn needs all the extra nutrients that a fertilizer gives. There’s not one fertilizer for all lawns and all seasons though. You need to treat your lawn in the correct way for each season, not generally with a one-size-fits-all approach. The ideal is to have a lush green lawn no matter what time of the year it is, April or September. You could make your lawn greener, eliminate patches, have less weeds, and make it thicker by following these simple steps.

Most people use nitrogen-rich fertilizers in the spring. Fertilizing in the spring is ok, but it is a time to exercise restraint in fertilization. Doing a lot of lawn care in the spring may be tempting, but what you’re really doing is encouraging a lot of top-growth at the expense of the roots. Go with a fertilizer that is lighter on the nitrogen and heavier on the phosphorous. For example, read the fertilizer label to see 5-10-5, which will indicate 10 on the phosphorous and less on the other two.

During the summer months, nitrogen fertilizer is more likely to burn your lawn. Nitrogen burn is even more likely if your lawn is drought-damaged already. Look for a slow-release fertilizer and don’t use any more fertilizer if it looks like your lawn is showing signs of summer stress. You could get a fertilizer without nitrogen that said 0-20-20.

Fertilizer has the best chance of getting down to the deep roots in the fall, and that is the part of your grass that really needs the nutrients. Fall is the most important time to start fertilizing by far. Go for a slightly more expensive fertilizer that is slow-release and combination rather than fast-release, but they will be a little bit pricier. 10-2-6 or 5-2-4 are good proportions for slow-release fertilizers.

Lawn care done right should yield the best lawns no matter what the season is. How to fertilize your lawn in spring, summer, and fall isn’t that complicated. Just use slightly different fertilizers, and slightly differing amounts, and you should be in good shape throughout the year. There’s no reason why your lawn shouldn’t look great throughout the year.

Category: Landscaping, Lawn Care