Minnesota lawn care advice offered ahead of early spring

Minnesota lawn care tips for early spring

After a winter that provided well above-average temperatures and a lack of snow compared to most years, many Minnesotans are now wondering what they should be doing to care for their lawn that?s already showing this early in the year.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - With a nearly snow-less winter and now a warm and dry spring, there’s a question lawn and garden experts are getting a lot: Should I start watering?

The answer is not yet, because it’s still too early.

"When the grass isn’t green, when there’s no leaves on the trees, no leaves on the bushes, that means that plants aren’t actively growing," Fox 9’s Garden Guy, Dale K, explains. "They’re still in dormancy. They wouldn’t be utilizing that water anyway."

Much of Minnesota remains in either moderate or severe drought, the same way we entered winter.

The key isn’t how much water is in the ground, but rather how warm it is.

While we’ve had warm days, they’re not consistent enough to get the average soil temperature to the 52 degree mark when grass germinates.

"The long range forecast, it does cool down a little bit again and so that will kind of inhibit or stop soil temperature from rising too fast, so that will actually slow down the growth of the lawn," Dale says. "But once it starts, you get any green tinges anywhere, and it’s still dry, then I would water."

So what can you do?

You could put down grass seed now to be ready for when the ground does warm up. But beware it’s possible it could get blown away by wind or eaten by birds, so Dale recommends holding off.

You can do some light raking to get rid of extra leaves and debris in the yard, but be careful not to damage the lawn itself since it remains dormant.

You can prune some bushes, especially hydrangeas, he says, if you feel the urge to enjoy the weather in the yard.

But otherwise, wait for the soil to warm up and the trees and bushes to start sprouting leaves. If we haven’t had much moisture by then, break out the sprinklers.

"It’s only mid-March. What happens in April is a lot more key to watering and how our gardens are going to bounce out of this winter without more snow cover," said Dale K. "That’s what I’m really concerned about – lack of snow cover. We’ll find all that out as we move into April."