When you can renovate your lawn

Warmer, sunny breaks in the weather might have you itching to get outside to rebuild your lawn and the expert says it’s not too early.

Ciscoe Morris, host of Gardening with Ciscoe on 97.3 KIRO FM Weekends, recommends renting an aerating machine and punching a billion holes into the grass. He says you can use a foot aerator, too, but you’ll end up looking like a “cowboy who took too long of a ride on a chubby horse.”

When you have the holes done, fill them with grass seed- 50-50 perennial rye fine fescue mix – and organic lawn food.

“Rake the seed into the holes because grass seed, even if it germinates, if it’s sitting on heavy thatch, it’s not going to survive.”

Water and watch it grow. Mow to two inches tall as soon as the grass reaches 3 inches tall. Use a mulching mower and leave the clippings.

If moss is your issue, then rent a dethatching machine to pull it out – and then apply a moss control.

Ciscoe warns to refrain from fertilizing until the last week of April unless you’re renovating the turf.

“If you fertilize too early, you force grass into this unbelievably fast growth stage…it can’t support the amount of growth with the food it can make in its leaves and steals carbohydrates from its own root system and you end up with shallow roots.”

When it is time to feed your lawn, make sure you’re using the perfect amount, Ciscoe said to measure your lawn, figure out how big your lawn is, and then the bag tells you how much to put on.

“The worse thing you could do is put too much fertilizer on. If you do that, a lot of times it’ll burn the grass and that defeats the whole purpose.”

Rather than get the cheap, generic stuff, Ciscoe says it’s best to buy the organic fertilizer because it’s slow release and just does a better job.

Gardening with Ciscoe can be heard on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. and anytime at MyNorthwest.com