Getting Ready For Spring Tips

Time to get your lawns prepared for spring grasses and rid of oncoming weeds. Many of you use a professional lawn service yearly so they have designed programs for your lawn. For those who do it themselves the local Shelby County Agriculture Department at the Ag Center have many articles and suggestions. The first one is to test your soil. There are kits available to use when sending in samples. The latest cost quoted is $15 and you need to get soil from 3 different areas in your lawn. Do not hesitate to get this done soon and also start applying pre-emergent weed control. If you delay these southern weeds will start to take over your grass and possibly choke them out in the next few months. Trees and shrubs also need their attention too. Tree trimming to get rid of diseased or decayed limbs will keep your trees healthy. In the next few months check for any diseases on the bark. Our crepe myrtles have developed local fungus that can be scrubbed off with a bleach solution or you can purchase a tree and shrub formula at your local garden shops. I have done both with my trees and shrubs. I now use a professional service since the local garden stores did not have what I needed to treat my Japanese Maple from having problems with the leaf browning despite all of the wet weather we had last year. Good Luck with all of your gardening and Enjoy our Spring Season which is coming next week.