TIPS FOR A NICER LAWN

Your lawn may be less than perfect, with bare spots, thin turf and too many weeds. Improve it with these tips from garden experts at the Toro Company.  Start over from scratch if your lawn is more than 50 percent weeds.  Till the old turf under and reseed with new, improved cultivars like tall fescues. These grasses have long roots that resist drought and need less mowing and fertilizing.  Get the best grass for your area. The county extension agent or your local gardening center probably have good suggestions. Skip the generic bargains; named varieties of seed will get you the best quality.  Set your mower blades lower in early spring. That will collect surface debris on the lawn. If you have more than an inch or so of thatch--those tangled surface roots that can choke a lawn--use a special rake or an attachment that can be mounted to the front of the mower.  Scrape bare and thin spots with a metal rake and apply a mixture of topsoil and seed. Then put a light layer of straw over to keep the seed from blowing or being eaten by birds. Keep the area moist for at least a week and avoid mowing until the seed is established.  If your soil is clay-type and dense, rent a core aerator. This takes out plugs of soil that will enable air, water and nutrients to reach the grass roots. The plugs can be left on the lawn, where they will break down in a week or so and help reduce the thatch layer.  When the grass starts greening and the weather turns warmer, raise the cutting height of your mower blades so that only about a third of the blades are being cut each time. Mulch the clippings by using an adapter for that purpose or with a dedicated mower that chops them repeatedly so that they break down almost immediately after they’ve returned to the turf.  Fertilize in mid to late spring with a slow-release, naturally based fertilizer that encourages deep root growth. Dense roots will help choke out weeds and reduce the need for pesticides. Using fast-release fertilizers offers a quick cosmetic greening, but it also causes excess top growth that will require more mowing.