A lush, green lawn is the dream. But sometimes, our yards need a little help. Knowing how to fertilize your yard properly is key for a healthy and vibrant lawn. This guide covers everything from soil testing to choosing the right lawn fertilizer and application techniques. You’ll learn how to best fertilize your lawn like a pro.
Table of Contents:
- Why Fertilize Your Yard?
- Understanding Your Lawn’s Needs
- Choosing the Right Fertilizer
- How to Fertilize Your Yard: A Step-by-Step Guide
- When to Fertilize: Timing Is Everything
- Tips for Success and Additional Resources
- Conclusion
Why Fertilize Your Yard?
Fertilizer is like a multivitamin for your grass, providing essential nutrients often missing from the soil. These nutrients promote vigorous growth, enhance color, and improve stress tolerance. Fertilizing also helps suppress weeds by thickening the lawn and crowding out weed seeds. Regularly feeding your lawn with the correct fertilizer for your grass type helps it thrive. This ensures a vibrant lawn.
Understanding Your Lawn’s Needs
Soil Testing: The Foundation of How to Fertilize Your Yard
Before buying any fertilizer, conduct a soil test. This determines which nutrients your soil lacks and what to add nitrogen to yard. You can use a
DIY kit or send a sample to your local extension office for analysis. This prevents over-fertilizing, which can harm the environment and your wallet.
A soil test also checks your soil’s pH level. Getting your pH right makes all the difference when trying to how to fertilize yard for spring. A proper soil test helps understand exactly what the yard needs to ensure you apply the correct fertilizer, not only for the pH balance, but also the health of the lawn in general.
Know Your Grass Type
Different grasses have different needs and knowing your grass types can make all the difference in having a lush, green yard. Cool-season grasses, such as Kentucky bluegrass and perennial ryegrass, thrive in cooler temperatures. Warm-season grasses, like Zoysia and tall fescue, prefer the heat.
Knowing your grass type helps select the right lawn fertilizers and application timing. Understanding your grass type makes choosing lawn fertilizers an easier process. If you don’t choose the right products for the particular grass types you have in your yard, you can run into issues. For cool season grasses, early spring is a good time to feed your lawn.
Choosing the Right Fertilizer
With so many fertilizer products available, choosing the right one can be confusing. Understanding the N-P-K numbers, representing the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, is crucial for choosing lawn fertilizer.
For example, the Scotts® Turf Builder® line of lawn food has various NPK ratios to ensure your grass gets exactly what it needs to stay healthy. Nitrogen encourages top growth, helping the lawn turn green and grow taller. Phosphorus supports root development and potassium builds resistance to drought and diseases, making sure it maintains a deep root structure to stay strong throughout harsh weather.
Types of Fertilizer
- Granular: These pellets offer slow-release nutrients and are easily applied with a lawn spreader. These are generally easier to apply evenly and are preferred for covering large spaces, while liquid lawn food tends to require more passes with a sprayer to apply evenly.
- Liquid: Absorbed quickly, liquid fertilizers provide faster results, ideal for a quick boost. They can be attached to a garden hose or used with a sprayer. Liquid fertilizers are convenient and generally easy to apply to your lawn.
- Slow-Release vs. Quick-Release: Slow-release fertilizers deliver nutrients over time. Quick-release fertilizers provide a fast boost but don’t last as long. The Scotts® Turf Builder® Halts Crabgrass Preventer with Lawn Food gives you an application to prevent crabgrass before it sprouts. Quick-release options are typically better to achieve that stay-green effect immediately, where slow release fertilizers may take some time to achieve that color.
- Organic vs. Inorganic: Organic fertilizers improve soil health and have a lower environmental impact. However, inorganic options can be easier on your wallet since they cost less than organic alternatives. Which lawn fertilizer is the right for you is up to your specific needs. The builder® halts crabgrass fertilizer contains weed control that can eliminate the issue without requiring additional spray for your weeds. This means that there are even options when looking for lawn fertilizer that also do other jobs, making them good buys, and potentially better values than buying separate fertilizer and separate spray.
- Specialty Fertilizers: Products like starter fertilizers, weed-and-feed fertilizers (like the Scotts® Turf Builder®), and winterizer fertilizers address specific lawn needs.
How to Fertilize Your Yard: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Prep Your Lawn: Mow your lawn a few days before fertilizing. This allows the fertilizer to reach the soil more effectively. Cutting the grass also ensures the entire surface area is fertilized properly and nothing gets stuck under tall, overhanging grass that may be left after mowing.
- Choose Your Weapon: Use a broadcast or drop spreader for granular fertilizer. For liquid fertilizer, use a hose-end or backpack sprayer. Make sure to have a consistent pace when walking as well as applying at the proper rate when fertilizing lawn. If you are walking faster, less is being dispersed as well. There is also the method of using drop spreaders to disperse granules evenly onto your grass lawn.
- Apply Like a Pro: When applying granular fertilizer, begin around the entire perimeter of your lawn. Then, fill in the middle with overlapping passes. For liquid fertilizer, apply evenly and avoid over-spraying. It’s recommended to walk back and forth using a drop spreader using half the amount in the directions to ensure full, even coverage to help prevent stripes from forming where fertilizer has been concentrated and not evenly spread on the entire surface area.
- Water It In: Lightly water your lawn after fertilizing. This helps the nutrients soak into the soil. While not recommended, sometimes it rains shortly after. Avoid doing it right before heavy rains, so as to avoid the lawn fertilize washing away completely from where you applied. Instead, look to apply fertilizer with Scotts® Turf Builder® to ensure there is at least some moisture after to begin absorbing nutrients.
- Clean Up: Sweep any spilled fertilizer from hard surfaces like sidewalks and driveways. This prevents stains and keeps the area clean.
When to Fertilize: Timing Is Everything
Cool-season grasses should be fertilized in early spring and early fall. Warm-season grasses benefit most from applications in late spring or early summer. Applying fertilizer to cool season grasses at the right time of year will have your lawn looking lush and green.
Avoid fertilizing during the hottest part of summer or when the ground is frozen. Also, avoid fertilizing immediately before heavy rain, as the nutrients can wash away. To keep lawns actively growing in those cold climates, using the right amount and application style helps give it what it needs, including phosphorus for a healthy root system, so it can easily handle what gets thrown at it in those colder months.
Tips for Success and Additional Resources
| Tip | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Calibrate your spreader | Ensures even distribution of fertilizer, preventing streaks or burns. |
| Wear gloves and protective eyewear | Protects your skin and eyes from irritation. |
| Follow product instructions | Maximizes effectiveness and prevents damage to your lawn. Applying at the proper rates and intervals using the right spreader will maximize the product’s benefits for your particular grass lawn. For example, when using builder® lawn fertilizer follow the recommended setting for the drop spreader, but also apply twice in back and forth motions using half the rate on the fertilizer bag. This prevents dark and light streaks in the lawn that could appear from heavier concentration and prevents stripes from appearing that can result from hopper holes or uneven distribution at a particular flow setting or walking pace. Following the recommended instructions on the spreader’s operating manual and the specific builder® lawn fertilizer product used gives the best outcome, so make sure to read the product directions. |
To learn about lawn maintenance, like keeping your lawn green, see this Scotts® article. Explore this spring guide for preparing your lawn for summer. Learn about adding lime to lawns with this Homes and Gardens article. Improve your houseplant care with these articles from HouseFur and Real Simple. This guide on dethatching offers effective techniques. Finally, these lawn care tips cover products and spreaders. Here’s how to have a thick, green lawn and handle lawn patching.
Conclusion
Learning how to fertilize your yard is straightforward. By understanding your soil, selecting the appropriate lawn fertilizer for your grass type, and applying it correctly, you’ll achieve a healthy lawn. A little effort creates the picture-perfect yard you desire.
Knowing how to fertilize your yard is a key part of lawn care. By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a lush, green lawn that’s the envy of the neighborhood. Now that you have the basics, it’s time to apply this to your lawn. Remember to look for actively growing signs of grass growth and apply early fall applications of high quality products to your lawns in colder climates for healthy lawn maintenance. Then by early spring or after the risk of frost you can look to do your next application using either slow release, or if needed, use quick release lawn food. Using these methods for your grass type should bring a smile to your face as you enjoy a full season of vibrant color in your grass.