A healthy garden starts at the root, so looking after your lawn is paramount to growing a garden that will thrive. Two of the most basic ways to care for your lawn are weeding and feeding, and timing can make all the difference in these tasks’ effectiveness. If your yard looks a little sad at certain times of the year, then applying weed and feed is one of many ways to revive your lawn.

So much of gardening revolves around timing, and it can be hard to know when to do what. That’s why we’ve made this helpful guide to ensure your lawn care’s on track!

What is ‘Weeding and Feeding’?

These terms refer to two separate aspects of lawn maintenance. While these address two different needs, there are multiple products on the market that let you tackle both at the same time!

Weeding

Weeding is the removal of unwanted plants. Although there are many different species of these, we usually group them together and call them ‘weeds’. There are two steps to weeding; the physical removal of the plants and their roots, and the application of a herbicide or weed-killer spray to prevent any new seeds from sprouting.

Feeding

Soil holds essential nutrients that plants and grass draw up through their roots to sustain themselves. As these nutrients are depleted from the soil, they need to be replenished so our plants have a constant source of food, and so we ‘feed’ the soil.

Weed and feed

When you apply weed and feed, you’re giving the soil its essential nutrients and spreading a product to stop new weeds from growing all in one go! Spreading weed and feed is just one of the ways to kill weeds in winter, but you’ll still want to pull up any visible weeds for the best chance at eliminating them from your lawn.

When to Apply Weed and Feed

You might think that spring is the best time to tackle weeds as they start to grow. When it comes to weeds though, prevention is better than cure, making winter the perfect time to stop them in their tracks. Remember that just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there! For weeds like dandelions and bindii, winter is the best time to get rid of them, as if they’re left until spring, they’ll begin to flower and spread even more seeds.

As soon as the temperature starts to increase in spring and plants slowly start to wake up, they’ll also begin tapping into all those nutrients in the soil that we mentioned earlier. So, if you spread weed and feed during the winter, it means that by springtime there should be enough nutrients to go around and help bring your lawn back to life.

Simply taking care of it during winter is a great way to prepare your lawn for warmer months, so spending just a little bit of time tending to it will be well worth your while.

Expert Lawn Care

Like we mentioned above, there is a lot that goes into growing and maintaining a beautiful garden. If you’re finding it tricky to keep on top of, then get in touch with Jim’s Mowing for some assistance from the garden pros.