Scott lawn care program

Transform your yard into the envy of the neighborhood by grooming a gorgeous lawn. When it comes to lawn care, it helps to remember that your lawn is a living, growing field made up of many individual grass plants. The secret to success is tackling the right steps at the right time.

Learn what your lawn needs to look its best with our easy season-by-season care guide. Quick tip: You'll discover below that fertilizing your lawn is crucial to growing thick, luxurious grass. The simplest way to get just the right feeding products is to sign up for our subscription-based Scotts Lawn Care Program.

Just answer a few simple questions and we'll design a personalized plan that ensures you'll receive exactly what your lawn needs, right when you need it.

Kick off the growing and mowing season with a quick spring cleaning. Grab a lawn rake to rake out dead grass and dead remnants of annual grassy weeds, like crabgrass, goosegrass, and barnyard grass. Pick up any sticks or other debris that have accumulated on the lawn over winter. Double-check your mower deck height, and position it to cut grass at the highest possible setting for your grass type.

Cutting high encourages grass plants to grow thicker with deeper roots, which creates a lawn of healthy grass that will help to crowd out weeds. Lawns wake up from winter dormancy with an appetite. Not only will it feed and strengthen your lawn, but it also kills weeds like dandelion and clover and prevents future weeds.

With all products, be sure to follow label directions. This will help your lawn grow even thicker and continue to protect it from weather-related stress.

Again, be sure to follow label directions. Be sure, too, that you have just the right spreader for your lawn. This weed killer controls weeds without harming grass. By spraying, you avoid disturbing grass roots and unearthing dormant weed seeds, both of which can happen when you hand-weed.

Timing is crucial for success: Aim for an early spring sowing for cool-season grass and a late spring sowing for warm-season grass. If your lawn is worn and thin, thicken it by overseeding. Gorgeous summer lawns start with long, deep, healthy roots that snake through soil to find moisture. The surest way to encourage deep roots is by mowing high—as high as you can for your type of grass. Sharpen mower blades at least once a season to ensure a clean cut on individual blades of grass, which helps reduce moisture loss.

This is an area where the Scotts 4 Step program is severely lacking. Next, in the Scotts 4 Step program is weed control plus lawn food. These are important elements of a lawn care program. However, our biggest gripe would be the quality of these products.

For one, the Scotts weed control product is granular, which is far less effective than liquid weed control products, particularly ones that are professional grade. This is really not as headache-free and simple as the Scotts folks would have you believe.

At this point in the Scotts 4 Step lawn care program we are at step 3 and in the mid summer. This step is lawn food and iron. This is the time of year when your lawn care program should also be attacking crabgrass breakthroughs which really does keep persisting , but also addressing nutsedge and other summer weeds, many of which can require their own specialized control. Your lawn care program should also be addressing lawn grubs, which have the power to decimate your lawn.

Lawn grub control is absolutely essential here in the Lehigh Valley but the Scotts program never brings them up. Similarly, surface-feeding insects should also be addressed and yet Scotts has nothing in its program about insect control at all. The further we get into this program, the more it becomes obvious how it falls short.

The final step in the Scotts 4 Step lawn care program is fall lawn food. Whether you are just starting out, maintaining or troubleshooting, you'll find advice and answers here for all your lawn care needs.

When it comes to feeding your lawn, timing matters. This simple guide tells you all you need to know. Skip to main content.

Customize by ZIP Code. Featured Articles. Important Lawn Maintenance Projects for the Fall. The Benefits of Fall Feeding. Featured Products.