Spring Has (Not Quite) Sprung

Andie Wommack, Douglas County Extension Agent

A couple weeks ago, we saw temperatures above 70 for the first time this year in Castle Rock. I was so excited and spent as much time outside in the sun that I could. That Friday, it snowed. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth (at least at my house). This is the time of year when many of us start itching to get outside and work in our yards. This year has seemed much more wintery than ones in the recent past, which is contributing to the itch of needing to be outside.

While it’s not quite time to be planting your garden outside, there are several things you can

do to prepare your yard and garden for the coming gardening season. One main gardening task that most people like to do in the spring is fertilize or add organic material or compost. This may be unnecessary. Soil tests are an important tool when planning what amendments to add to your garden or landscape beds. Excess nutrients from home landscapes can be a major detriment to the local water systems. Landscapes can have a positive effect on water quality because they slow rain water down and help filter out impurities, but if you are fertilizing unnecessarily and/or watering too much, it contributes to pollution problems. The three main nutrients in any fertilizer are nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). There will be a series of three numbers on any fertilizer that tells you the NPK content percentages. For example, if a 12lb bag of fertilizer says 34-0-4, it contains 34% (4lb) nitrogen, no phosphorus, and 4% (0.5lb) potassium. Fertilizers will often contain other nutrients like sulfur or iron, but you have to read the label to find out how much the bag contains. If you get your soil tested, it will give you recommendations for amendments based on any nutrient deficiencies that exist. If the soil test indicates a need for one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet, you would use that recommendation to determine how much of the 34-0-4 fertilizer you would need to apply (three pounds for 1,000 square feet). However, if no phosphorus or potassium is recommended, you would not want to use that particular product. Look for something with zero percent phosphorus and potassium so you aren’t applying unnecessary nutrients to the ecosystem.

Now is a great time to start cleaning up your landscape. Check your area for any damage that may have occurred over winter. Make sure any trellises, raised beds, or other garden structures don’t need any repairs, and check trees and shrubs for any broken branches.

Also check trees for any branches that are crossing each other as those may become damaged when rubbing against each other. Do you best to remove snow during heavy snowstorms to prevent branches from breaking under the excess weight. Cut back your perennials and grasses that were not trimmed back in the fall if the weather is nice. It is important to leave these plants over the winter for food and habitat.

Clean up your lawn by removing any stray leaves, twigs, or other winter debris once it is clear of snow. If you have areas that need to be reseeded, make sure you do not apply any crabgrass preventer (pre-emergent) as this will also prevent your grass seed from growing. Delay turning on your irrigation system as long as possible to help conserve water and money. Generally, precipitation is most bountiful in the spring which will provide the necessary moisture for your turf. Daily irrigation is only necessary for germinating new seed or establishing the young roots of new sod. Daily watering a mature lawn encourages shallow root systems which will greatly reduce the turf’s drought tolerance. Bluegrass is relatively drought tolerant if managed correctly. Spring is also an excellent time to aerate your lawn. Aeration works best when plugs, or cores, are pulled from the soil. These should be two to three inches deep and no more than two to four inches apart. This will require several passes across your lawn. This helps reduce compaction which allows roots to grow easier through the soil.

So, while it may not be quite time to start planting your veggie garden with the potential for snow on the horizon, there are plenty of things you can do to be active outside!

Hort Peeve and Pleasure: Fertilizer Spreaders

Posted by: Alison O'Connor, Larimer County Extension

Spring is off to a racing start in the Front Range of Colorado this year. I had a Master Gardener tell me that she keeps a historical diary of when plants bloom and this is the earliest she's ever seen Callery pear and crabapples in full bloom.

With the early spring come lawn questions. To be fair, lawn questions occur most of the year, but generally the most frequent questions start in late April to May when things aren't greening up like they should. But not this year--I started booking Lawnchecks (lawn evaluations) in March.

Lawnchecks are one of my favorite things to do, primarily because there are so many old wives tales surrounding lawn care--such as leaving grass clippings on the lawn leads to thatch (it doesn't), you shouldn't water at night because it causes disease (it doesn't) and every weedy grass is crabgrass (it's not). I find that doing these visits is one of the best ways to dispell myths and get homeowners the correct information.

One thing that's surprised me is how people fertilize their lawn. We see a lot of "hungry" turf out there and when we ask about fertilization, the answers are all over the board. First of all, fertilizer is good for the lawn. The healthier the lawn is, the fewer weeds it will have. Healthy turf also benefits the environment.

Early spring greening of a lawn in Loveland.

Use whatever fertilizer you like. The lawn doesn't care if the nitrogen comes from chicken poop or the Scotts Company. There is no "best" fertilizer, just like there's no "best" car. They all have advantages and disadvantages. But it is very important on how you apply the fertilizer.

Find a fertilizer you like! It's kind of like shampoo...something for all lawn types.

So many clients use the hand fertilizer spreader...on their 3000 square feet of turf. First of all, this leads to a lot of cranking and is also a very inefficient and non-uniform application of fertilizer. The hand-crank fertilizer spreader is best used on very small lawns (<500 square feet). I can understand why it's attractive to consumers--it's compact and easy to use. But to fertilize a typical lawn with one pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet would mean filling the hopper about 30 times (not an exact number). That's not my idea of easy! So you end up fertilizing less, thus leading to a "hungry" lawn that can't combat weeds and other stressors, like disease and insects. Plus, the fertilizer bags do not list the hand-crank spreader as an option, so it's a wild guess as to what setting to use.

The hand-crank fertilizer spreader. Only useful on very small lawns.

Instead, it is worth it to invest in a push fertilizer spreader. I know that you're only using it a couple times of year and it takes up space. But you can also use the fertilizer spreader to apply seed if you need to overseed. If space is an issue, see if you can borrow one from your neighbor...or the neighborhood hardware store. You can also rent them. The big thing is to make sure the fertilizer you bought has the spreader you're using listed on the bag so you can set the spreader accordingly. Using the correct fertilizer setting will ensure that you apply one pound of nitrogen/1000 square feet.

A push fertilizer spreader. Best for typical lawns.

Push spreaders are two types--drop spreaders and centrifugal ("whirly-bird") spreaders. Drop spreaders drop fertilizer directly below. This means that you walk a lot more to apply fertilizer, but it also means that the fertilizer is staying on the lawn and not spraying to sidewalks or driveways (very important). Centrifugal spreaders can cover larger areas more quickly and do have "edge guards" when you're near a sidewalk or driveway. Just be sure to use them. Fertilizer in our sewers is not a good horticulture practice.

So fertilizer spreaders are a peeve and a pleasure. It's good that you fertilize your lawn...but make sure you do it accurately using the right equipment. After you fertilize, make sure it's watered in well (or time it with precipitation). Happy fertilizing!

Aeration Done Right

Posted by: Alison O'Connor, horticulture agent in Larimer County

I'm first to admit that when I give advice it's a "do as I say, not as I do" recommendation. When it comes to lawn aeration (AKA core cultivation), Extension recommends that you aerate at least once a year, twice if you can afford it. The last time I aerated was...well...a few years ago. I did it myself (with the help of burly men to help lift the machine) and it was, quite frankly, an effort!

Aeration is the best!

Last week I was driving by a park in Windsor and saw someone aerating the turf. I was impressed by how great of a job he was doing, so I stopped to chat. It turns out that Mike McFadden, of Barefoot Farms in Windsor, is passionate about doing aeration correctly. After talking for a few minutes, I hired him to aerate my under-aerated turf the following day.

What Mike probably didn't realize is that I'd be photographing him. So thanks to Mike for his willingness to be the subject of this blog.

Mike McFadden of Barefoot Farms

Why should you aerate? For many reasons, including better water infiltration to the turf root system, to combat thatch build-up, to allow for better oxygen exchange for roots and to add organic matter to your lawn and soil. And it helps alleviate soil compaction.

Steps to aerating correctly:

1. Water your lawn a couple days prior to the aeration event. In order to pull deep plugs, the lawn should have good moisture. If the lawn is too dry, the plugs pulled will be very short or the machine will simply bounce around the surface.

2. Before you start aeration, mark your sprinkler heads. I used somewhat unorthodox markers, simply because I didn't have flags. But it's very easy to hit a sprinkler head with the machine. The aeration machine generally has one speed--fast--and they aren't very easy to maneuver.

The tree stump and mini American flag mark sprinkler heads.
The design of my irrigation system is another story...

3. The goal of aeration is to "Swiss cheese" the lawn--make as many aeration holes as possible. Up, down, back and forth, horizontally, vertically, diagonally. Try to get the holes on 2" centers. If the plugs are 2-3" deep, this is also excellent. This is where commercial aeration may fall short if they only make one pass. One pass tends to result in very few holes several inches apart and quite frankly, does nothing to improve the health of your turf, except that it makes you feel good that you aerated. Following aeration, your lawn should look beat up and ugly. This will pass in time. In the long run, aeration is incredibly beneficial. (As a note, Mike made four passes on my lawn.)

A lovely little plug. Not too much thatch and 2-3" long.

4.  If you rent equipment, you have the luxury of being able to control how many passes you make. Honestly, you can't make too many holes. Ok, well if your lawn is mud following aeration, maybe you made a few too many. But really--the more holes the better!

Lots and lots and lots and lots of holes is key.

5. Leave the cores on the lawn once you're finished. If you can't stand the sight of them, then rake them up and put them in your compost pile--don't throw them away. They are full of wonderful organic matter. If you leave the cores, they will break down with a few mowings.

6. Need to seed or fertilize? It's the P-E-R-F-E-C-T time following aeration. The holes you just created are ideal "germination chambers" for seed. Seed that drops into the holes will stay moist, have good contact with soil and be protected during germination. Fertilizer will also reach turf roots better following aeration (be sure to water it in). On a side note, if you applied crabgrass preventer to your lawn this spring, wait until August to seed--the crabgrass preventer will kill seedling grass.

It took Mike about 35 minutes to aerate my 3,000 square foot lawn. And I was thrilled with the result. He did mention that I have a much heavier thatch layer in my front yard (oops) and that doing it again in fall would be wise. So if it's been a few years, do your lawn a favor and aerate! It does the lawn good.

The chickens loved the freshly disturbed earth and had a heyday with worm bits.