Yesterday was St. Patrick’s day and the color green was on everyone’s mind. So, speaking of the color green, why not turn your yellow yucky winter lawn into a lush dark green fairway!?!
My husband Dan is a PRO when it comes to making our lawn a dark healthy green. I have heard it dozens of times from our friend and neighbors, “How does Dan make your lawn such a DARK GREEN color!?!” There are many important steps to maintaining a healthy lawn throughout the year.
Step 1: Helping your lawn revive from the winter starts with a good Fall fertilizer. At the end of the year he always fertilizes before the first freeze {any good brand of fertilizer {Scott’s, Lesco…etc} will do.
Step 2: When the temperature is on the up where ever you live, start by aerating your lawn in the Spring.
Step 3: On the same day that you aerate your lawn, put a good dose of Ever Green 18-5-0 fertilizer down on your lawn. (You can usually find this brand at your local nursery) Dan likes this brand because it has the right amount of iron and nitrogen to bring your lawn back to a lush dark green color quickly and safely. Don’t hesitate to put an extra heavy dose as it will not burn your lawn this early in the season.
Step 4: Turn on your sprinklers to activate the fertilizer. In the early Spring it’s only necessary to water once every five days.
Step 5: Wait about 1 month and apply another good dose of the same fertilizer and your lawn will thicken up nicely and stay dark green for several months.
Step 6: Apply another dose of fertilizer in the early Summer months, but be careful not to burn your lawn if it gets too hot in your area.
We use a good old rotary spreader to apply the fertilizer to our lawn, but you can use a hand spreader or drop spreader too.
This is what our lawn looked like around March 1st. I didn’t get a before picture of the backyard, but it looked just like the front!
These pictures were taken yesterday.
It’s amazing what the right fertilizer, a little sun, and a little water will do to your lawn! Even though the trees haven’t blossomed yet it still feels like Spring. I don’t know about you, but I just love to be outside this time of year and enjoy the beautiful weather before it gets way too hot!!!
Those are exceptional tips. It’s amazing what a little bit of work can do to a yard! I don’t have my own lawn yet, but I will be using these tips someday! Thanks!
Wow, I love it. We will totallly do this when we move to a house with a lawn again. thank you for sharing such wisdome.
Love the plan you presented. Where can you find that fertilizer?
Hi Angel,
We found it online for you. You can buy it at:
http://www.starnursery.com/fertilizers/all-purpose-fertilizers/best-evergreen-18-5-0-minis-50-lb.html
Fantastic looking lawn. I’m so envious, we’re in Canada and our lawn is still buried under 1 to 5 feet of snow!
I am going to get a green lawn this year or die trying. This will help tremendously. We fertilized and planted grass seed in the fall but I am afraid it was too late. It is still cold in CT so I am hoping as it warms up the grass will warm up. I am going to start looking for the Evergreen fertilizer tomorrow. Thank you so much for the information. If our lawn doesn’t turn green, can we borrow your husband?
What??!! You mean it takes work to get a green lawn? 🙂 It’s totally worth the effort. I cannot believe how it greened up in just 2 weeks!!! Awesome. Hey! Have you told us about the pergola over your back patio? I have been wanting to build one for our backyard. Do tell!
I will be showing this to my husband! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the tips! I’ll have to show this to the hubs. I’m just amazed that there isn’t any snow pack on our lawn like there usually is this time of year…
Great tips! And when I finally do SEE my lawn, I will try them out myself. I still have over a foot and a half of snow on both the front and back lawns. *sigh*
A small suggestion. Instead of “turn on your sprinklers”, you might opt for “water the grass.” Not everyone has sprinklers, right? 😉
Thank you for the tips Brooke! I’m pinning right now. We are moving to our first house at the end of May and we’ll be looking forward to having a yard. Do you know if this fertilizer is safe with having little kids playing on it?
Yep as far as I know it is. If it wasn’t I couldn’t use it.
Curious about the mural (is that what it is?) that I spy on your back wall. Details?
Oh! Nevermind, I just found your post about it. 🙂
I thought you were going to say you spray painted the grass. LOL
I’m trying get rid of the weeds and my yard green would this do both?
Hi Cassie. No this is not a weed and feed product. This is just a fertilizer.
But I will say, the healthier your grass is, the more likely it is to “choke” out the weeds. So it would probably still help.
You have a beautiful home and I know you and your family are proud of it. I only have one comment about your yard care. For many years I used all of the usual commercial, chemical fertilizers, weed and insect killers if needed, etc. In the mid 80’s I began to learn about the organic way of lawn care as well as a more natural/nature way of management. The process became easier, less costly and more healthy for the yard and my veg and flower gardens. We began to build a healthy soil and environment and did not require the strong chemicals. Thank you for all the information, support and encouragement. Keep up the good work. PV
Is there a local shop you get your fertilizer from? Getting that bag from online has extremely high shipping costs.
We get ours from IFA or John Deere Landscape. 🙂
Does anyone know how to get rid of moles in the yard?
Home Depot sells mole bait. You could try that? Here’s a link: Mole Bait
Just wanted to thank you for this advice – I live in Southern California and I managed to find the same Ever Green 18-5-0 compound. Worked perfectly and greened up my lawn. Thanks for posting.