After getting a glimpse of some warmer weather, we can’t wait for spring to get here! With those warmer months coming up, it’s time to start thinking about lawn care.

• Here are some tips and best practices to follow to ensure a healthy and beautiful landscape while also protecting our waterways:

• Mow high and keep your lawn at a height of three inches; a slightly taller lawn requires less fertilizer and water to stay healthy.

• Have your soil tested to determine fertilizer needs. More information on testing kits can be found here.

• Use mulching blades on your mower and leave the grass clippings on the lawn; this returns valuable nutrients to the soil.

• May and September are the best times to fertilize lawns, if you are going to, when cool season grasses are actively growing.

• Don’t apply fertilizer when rain and/or wind are in the forecast.

• Avoid fertilizing near streams, ditches, hard surfaces, and slopes.

• Clean up fertilizer granules if accidently spread onto hard surfaces.

Traditional lawn care management is typically not so eco-friendly and sustainable. By implementing these tips and tricks we’ve provided, it’s a great step in the right direction to bettering the health of ourselves as well as the planet!