One of your main goals as a Toronto resident is likely to be creating and maintaining a beautiful, healthy lawn. Investing time and effort into lawn beautification can increase your home value and your quality of life.

Making your lawn a source of pride and enjoyment in all seasons can be a do-it-yourself project. Looking for a reliable lawn care agency in your area might be worthwhile if your time for yard work is limited.

Spring is the Time for Getting The Lawn Ready for Summer
Healthy, well-tended lawns and gardens offer a unique beauty in all four seasons. Summer is probably the season when they display their crowning glory and burst with lively, radiant contrasting colors.

Cold, sometimes cruel, Toronto winters can leave lawns in disarray and lead to plant diseases like snow mould. Two forms of the disease, pink snow mould and grey snow mould, can be treated and eliminated in a matter of two to three weeks. But they won’t go away on their own.

We often change diet and exercise habits to prepare our bodies for the lighter, skimpier summer clothing. Without that trimming and toning, we might need to skip our summer beach trip. If we don’t do the same for our lawn and gardens, we need not expect them to earn a second look from passersby or any community yard and garden prizes.

Five Steps to Creating a Beautiful Summer Lawn
Snow in winter can help protect your lawn by covering it with a protective shield against winter’s harsh elements. When Toronto has a winter with decreased snowfall, these elements can do even more damage. To restore your lawn, do the steps listed below.

Springtime Clean-Up
Begin by clearing your lawn of debris: leaves, sticks, branches, or trash. Rake your yard vigorously to dislodge and clear out damaged grass and thatch (a mixture of dead grass and roots) that block the plant from receiving water, nutrients, and oxygen from the soil.

Mowing Your Lawn
Be sure to have your mower blades sharpened before the first mow and periodically throughout the summer. A sharp blade will cut the grass blades evenly and cause less stress than the jagged cut of a dull blade.

Keep the blade at a height of 2 1/2 to 3 inches (6 to 8 cm) to promote a deeper, more widespread root system, increase the thickness of the grass, and help the soil retain water better.

Mow your lawn once or twice a week during the spring and summer at a time when the ground is dry and firm. A jingle to help you remember: Cut it high when it is dry.

Aerating the Soil
Aerating involves loosening compacted soil by poking holes in it or removing thick plugs of soil that may be obstructing water uptake. This is often done in the fall, but sometimes in the spring it helps loosen the soil for better growth and water absorption.

Overseeding
Applying a balanced layer of seed to your lawn after raking can thicken the grass and choke out unwanted weeds like summer crabgrass. It is advisable to use a seed blend containing Fine Fescue, Perennial Rye, and Kentucky Blue. This can lessen the need for pesticides.

Fertilizing
Add nutrients by distributing a light layer of spring fertilizer to the soil. The color, thickness, and growth of your lawn will be enhanced. You might even want to shed your shoes and walk barefoot on your beautiful lawn!