The rain in the weather forecast for the next 10 days here in Ottawa brings the saying “April showers bring May flowers” to mind. The rain showers will water the spring bulbs and perennials, encouraging their bloom. A few days of rain makes the lawns so much greener too. All the rain showers and cool weather forecasted this spring is also good for planting grass seed or fertilizing your lawn and trees.
There are many products available for spring treatment, some with just seed, some with just fertilizer, and some that combine seed and fertilizer.
Some combinations for your lawn even add peat which is beneficial in keeping the soil rich by absorbing moisture. These combination products can be a good thing for novice landscapers and home owners, as the research is done for you. The proper type of fertilizer and the amount to use is calculated for you.
Corn gluten is a popular, organic, pre-emergent treatment for crab grass. Pre-emergent means it should be applied before the crab grass seeds germinate (start to grow) very early in the spring, as soon as the snow is gone from the lawn. I use corn gluten on my lawn in the fall, after the first frost, but before the first snow fall. I have found this practice convenient (one less thing to do in the spring) and most effective against crabgrass.
Fertilizer spikes are efficient ways to feed your trees. Make sure you choose the proper product package for your trees though. There are packages for evergreens (pine, spruce, cedar etc), ornamental trees (crab apple, lilacs etc) fruit trees (apple, plum etc) and other popular trees (maple, elm etc) Simply pound the spikes in the ground around the perimeter of your tree’s dripline as specified in the package directions. Obviously, the larger the perimeter of your tree’s dripline (the outer edge of branches), the more spikes you need. It is best and easiest to pound these spikes into the ground when the ground is wet and more rain showers are in the forecast.
Make the most of the forecasted rain; your lawn and trees will thank you!
