Spring Renewal

Today is the 12th of March. The temperature for tomorrow is supposed to be in upper 50s. That's quite a contrast from the bleak weather we have had during the past week or so. We actually had 15 inches of snow fall on our place last Saturday. Today, Wednesday, it is nearly gone. Anyway, I am ready for spring.

I have decided to do my own lawn care this season. I figure I will save some money and get some exercise. This is actually the first time I have done lawn care, except for mowing, in about 10 years. So I did my research; went to several websites and read about lawn care. I bought the "Lawn Care for Dummies" book at Barnes and Noble. I even browsed through several articles in the DIY magazine section at the Home Depot. This is going to be a lot more difficult than I thought. But I bought myself a new Scott's broadcast spreader and my first bag of 20-4-0 (I can't remember exactly what those numbers stand for), and I am ready to go.

The best thing I learned was to "follow the manufacturer's instructions" on the product's package. This sounded easy enough. Then I realized that the instructions varied depending on the soil type, geographic area, sun or shade conditions, highth of grass cut, rainwater available, and your watering schedule, not to mention whether you have sod or seed and your specific type of grass. Wow!

I decided to ask for guidance. There is a gentleman at church who is the "outdoor type". Believe it or not his name is Jim. Gentleman Jim has done some farming in his day, so I thought he would be the perfect person to ask for advise. He told me that he watches his neighbor. "When he fertilizes, I fertilize; when he seeds, I seed; when he waters; I water. It all seems to work out pretty well."

So I'm thinking, my neighbor does his own lawn care and he has a healthy lawn, so I think I will just take Jim's advise and follow my neighbor's lead. I just hope he doesn't get up too early in the morning and I miss him applying that spring treatment.