JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – This weekend’s weather will make it quite tempting to spend a few hours outside in the cool sunshine getting your lawn and hedges ready for Spring. Sherry Scurry, the Lawn and Garden Manager at Folkston Farmers and Builders Ace Hardware explains that certain products need warmer temperatures to be effective, but other actions you could take this weekend will get your lawn ready for those warmer days.
Don’t let all this nice weather fool you, there are a couple of things you need to do to your lawn this week, but other things you need to hold off on another couple of weeks so that your lawn looks perfect for spring.
Sherry says some people are seeing grass right now, but it’s mostly weeds. It’s time to take care of those weeds, before they get too out of hand. “The first thing that people are noticing is that they have weeds, we have several different products that you could put out for that this weekend, a post emergent or a pre-emergent in a granular form or spray form.”
In addition to other weeds, Sherry says customers are coming in asking about the prickly variety of weeds especially, “People are having a lot of problems with sand spurs this time of the year and we have everything to take care of that.”
You lawn may be lacking in lime too, which you can also add to your grass this weekend. Sherry says now is a good time to have your lawn tested. Most lawns in this area are very acidic, and when that happens that makes certain nutrients unavailable to be absorbed by your lawn.
We are all eager for Spring, but it’s still a little early for other lawn treatments. Sherry explains that we should wait to apply weed and feed in their lawns until at the beginning of April so that it doesn’t force our grass out of dormancy too early. That could cause our lawn to struggle the rest of the year.
We’re all tired of the scraggly winter flower bushes and hedges but Sherry says wait a few more weeks, “I know people are eager to want their hedges and bushes to look good right now, but it would probably be best to wait until after the last frost of the season frost before they start any pruning.”
She’s also warning her customers who have already started purchasing citrus trees and fruit trees, “people are buying them right now, but I would not plant them right now until after the last frost so it won’t damage the tree.”
For more information on what she should you be doing your lawn this week and what you should hold off a few more weeks on you can head in and ask the experts at your neighborhood Ace Hardware.
Next week Everything 4 Spring tackles trees and hedges, Mark Collins cuts to the chase when it comes to chainsaws and spring pruning