Is it time to start bringing your lawn back to life?

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — A warm winter with very little snow has many Minnesotans wondering if it's time to bring the lawn back to life.

Some have already started on lawn projects but there is confusion about what can be done now and what needs to wait. 

Showcase Lawn Care President Mike Hoogenakker is seeing signs that lawns are already starting to wake up.

"The fact that we didn't have much in the way of frost, we had two really cold weeks. Past that, it's been warm, and we see soil temperatures right now about 38 degrees," said Hoogenakker.

Following a weird winter, here are a few of WCCO viewers' most asked questions, answered.

Is now a good time to dethatch my lawn?

"Yeah, now's fine. You're not going to tear the grass up anymore and honestly the grass like to be torn up. I mean, the more you dethatch, the more you cut it, the happier it gets," explained Hoogenakker.

When can I start watering my grass?

"Right now, as a matter of fact. If you have a sprinkler system, the risk you run is that the backflow preventer on the outside of your house could freeze. If we get a cold snap you may need to cover that thing," said Hoogenakker.

What springtime lawn diseases should I be looking out for?

"I don't think we need to worry about any other spring diseases at this point. The diseases beyond snow mold won't really get going until we start getting some humidity and we start getting some green grass," said Hoogenakker.

He is more concerned about foreign invaders.

"We've already seen grub damage from Japanese beetles already this year and then the other thing is ticks. Ticks are serious and they're going to get a real big head start this year."

Bottom line: Everything is currently about a month ahead — so raking leavings and debris and dethatching is fine, but homeowners shouldn't get too far ahead of the game.

"There's a real temptation to go out and do a bunch of seeding right now and we're not out of the woods yet. I would hold off on the seeding for right now, but you could do all the prep work. You could do all the dethatching and aerating. All that stuff can be done ahead of time," said Hoogenakker.

He adds that if things continue to run ahead of schedule as they have been, crabgrass is going to be out early.

Hoogenakker also expects we will experience a longer season which means more need for weed control.

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