Choosing the Right Fertilizer for Your Lawn or Garden

Is Your Soil Starving?

First, it’s a good idea to assess whether you’re overdue for fertilizer. Look for these common signs:

• Weed Growth: Some weeds can grow under nearly any circumstances, but you’d be surprised how many of them can be crowded out by a thick, healthy lawn. If you’re seeing more weeds than normal, your soil health may be suffering.
• Brown Grass: If you didn’t eat right, you wouldn’t look right either. Your grass will appear discolored rather than a vibrant green.
• Other Plants Seem Dull: Late blooms, dull or nonexistent flowers, or die-offs of annuals and perennials can all indicate that your soil needs some TLC.
• Time: Changes of the season can also be a good time to fertilize. Your grass hibernates, after all, and when it “wakes,” it’s pretty hungry. Feed it well in spring, and maintain it throughout the summer and fall, and you’ll have fewer bald patches, fewer weeds, and a lot more green.

Why is Fertilizer Necessary?

Think of your soil somewhat like a pantry or fridge. Just because you’ve stocked up doesn’t mean you won’t run out of food sooner or later. Just like your pantry, your soil will become depleted over time by whatever’s planted there, whether it’s grass, arborvitae, or your prized tomatoes. It’s important to replenish those nutrients.

Choosing Your Fertilizer

Fertilizer has three main components, each denoted by a letter and a number. The letters are NPK, which stand for Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium (K is for Kalium, the Latin word for Potassium). Each performs a different function. Nitrogen is a growth accelerant, phosphorous strengthens roots and beautifies flowers, and potassium is a growth enhancer and regulator.

There are fourteen other compounds and elements that contribute to healthy plant life, but those are the three most important.

The numbers, meantime, start at zero and go up from there. Each fertilizer will have different proportions of each nutrient. If we’re feeding ourselves, we think in terms of a balanced diet. That said, it’s a different story for grass and garden plants. Different grasses may call for different ratios, and those ratios may also vary by time of year.

Lawn Care Service Near Sioux City

If it sounds like choosing the right fertilizer is complicated, it is — at least if you want to do the job right. Many homeowners in the Siouxland area call Jay-Lan Lawn Care for precisely that reason. Our lawn care program considers your entire landscape, taking care of fertilizing, weed control, lawn pest control, and much more. It’s a much easier way to get a green lawn, especially if you don’t have a particularly green thumb. Why not call us today and see how we can help you?