Spring is here! Your plants are rubbing the sleep from their eyes and getting ready to wake up from their long Winter’s nap. Unfortunately, so are the pesky lawn weeds that are sure to make you want to pull your hair out if allowed to germinate and take over your lawn.

Doing one simple thing now will help get you the results you want down the road in those lovely summer months: Apply Fertilome Crabgrass Preventer Plus Lawn Food. This is one of the most important steps of lawn care, not only to get the yard boosted with energy and rich green color, but to also prevent those unwanted weed seeds from germinating as soil temperatures rise. Crabgrass, one of our worst lawn weed grasses, is an annual weed meaning that it only comes back from seed each spring. Applying Fertilome’s Lawn Food Plus Crabgrass Preventer will assist in preventing the majority of the crabgrass seed lying dormant on the soil’s surface.  This improved product contains an alternate pre-emergent weed preventer that covers a much broader range of grass and broadleaf weeds for added control.  It comes in 5,000 sq.ft. (20 lb) or 10,000 sq.ft. (40 lb) bags. Generally speaking, a 1/3 acre lot will require the 40 lb bag.

Water levels are looking low this year, give your shrubs and trees an extra boost of moister by shoveling the snow off your driveway and walks onto the ground under your plants instead of into the road. (Make sure the snow doesn’t have any salt or ice melt that is not plant friendly) Your plants will thank you for that extra drink of water! Remember that even though your plants are dormant this time of year, they still need water through the dry spells.

How to extend the life of your Christmas Tree: There are as many ideas out there about what to add to your tree’s water to keep it fresh as there are Christmas traditions. They range from sprite to asprin to fertilizer. Most of these in the right amount won’t hurt your tree, but research has shown that plain old H2O works best. There are, however, a few key things to remember that definitely will effect the life of your tree. Most importantly, is to constantly keep the base of the tree submerged in water. When you first bring the tree home, cut a 2″ section from the base of the trunk and put it immediately in at least a gallon of water. If it will not be put up in your home for a day or two, do the above process but put it in a bucket of water and store outside or in a garage away from sun, wind and below freezing temps. Repeat the process when ready to put it in it’s permanent tree stand, make sure the stand is big enough to hold a gallon of water. Check the water level daily and always keep it well above the bottom of the trunk. Display your tree away from heat sources including heaters, furnace vents and televisions. Using a humidifier to increase the humidity of your home also helps extend the life of a tree in our dry Utah climate.