This is not an advertisement for a lawn care company. It is a prescription for a great lawn in the Lowcountry. If you take a walk through your neighborhood, it is evident who used pre-emergent in the fall. The lawns that are still brown used a pre-emerge. Those lawns that are green probably did not. It isn’t that the grass is greening up already. It’s that the weeds are coming up, especially Poa Anna.       Now is the time to put down the spring dose of pre-emergent. The official way to tell is just before the soil temperature reaches 50 degrees. The way most of us know when to put down the pre-emerge is when the forsythia starts to bloom. If we go by the calendar – Valentine’s Day is time to give your lawn some love. This year, some cool nights extended the window a little, and you still have some time. In early March, we are still at 49 degrees soil temperature at my house; in North Mount Pleasant. What do I use?           I have always used Halts from Scotts. I haven’t been able to find it the past couple of seasons and have been using WeedEx instead. Spectracide has a crabgrass preventer as well. It is called CrabEx and I would guess it works as well. Corn gluten is an organic/natural product that also prevents germination. The timing is more important and it doesn’t last as long. Pre emergents do not generally kill weeds that have already germinated. They prevent germination. I don’t know how they work. That would be a subject for another writer.           I avoid any product that includes fertilizer or nitrogen. It is too early to fertilize southern lawns, and most of us have centipede, at least in the sunny part of the lawn. Centipede is very susceptible to nitrogen kill. When you use fertilizer on centipede lawns, I like one that starts with 15; like a 15-0-15. If you use a product that has a higher first number, you can apply it at half the recommended rate. I wait until the grass is green to feed it with fertilizer. That allows it to wake up on its own rather than shocking it awake. What else? As long as I have the spreader out and I am doing yard work, I make another pass with some insecticide. This season I used SpectricideTriazicide. I mix it up every season. Bayer and Ortho also make insecticides that are easy to find at any home store.   I need to water everything in. While I have the hose out, I spray any weeds that made it through the fall dose of pre-emerge with a liquid weed killer. Spectracide Weed Stop or Ortho Weed Be Gone are the products I usually use. A common hard-to-kill, weedy grass that is popping up on many lawns is Poa Annua. The only product I know that kills it without killing the lawn is Image. It needs to be attacked early, and it takes a couple of weeks. If you have waited until now, It could take two doses, two weeks apart. I seem to have poa annua along the area where the yard hits the street every year, even though I use a pre-emerge.            Call me today to find your perfect lawn!

So you moved to the Lowcountry, or you are a first-time homeowner? Here are a few Springtime spruce-ups or things to do to get your home and yard ready for the upcoming spring and summer months.       If you live with bigger trees around, make sure you get any pine straw or leaves off your roof. A couple of reasons for this - it will help keep your shingles free and clean for maximum life of the roof, also come summertime when people are shooting fireworks for the 4th of July, by having the roof clear of debris, it can prevent a fire if a firework happens to land or explode over or on your roof. During the hot months, all that debris on top is very dry, and a spark or even heat from a firework can cause a spark or fire to that dry straw or leaves. So make sure to keep the roof clean.  Clean out your gutters! While clearing all the debris off your roof, make sure to clear out your downspouts and gutter system for free water flow coming off the roof. Debris can clog the flow and even stop it up.                      Trim your shrubs! Your shrubs love this right before they start to bloom. Don't you feel much better after a fresh new haircut? By trimming or pruning bushes and trees, it promotes new growth and can make your bushes and shrubs much more fuller-looking!                       If you have birdhouses as I do, make sure you clean them out! Most birds that look for nesting spots like to build their own. If there are remnants of last year's nest in the house, they will keep on moving! This is especially true with bluebirds! They will not go into a house that is not cleaned out! So make your birds happy by giving them a nice empty house to move into. Put down some pre-emerge and or some weed and feed. This will help jump-start your grass and eliminate all those nasty weeds that showed up during the winter months. Your yard will thank you!                       Make sure your HVAC unit on the outside is free and clear of weeds and growth. It will perform at its best when it has the proper flow allowed to it. So keep it clear of bushes and plants. Look down inside the fan area and make sure there are no leaves and trash down inside. If you have an issue, always call a professional. Many companies have service plans where they come out and check the system a couple of times a year just to ensure your system is working at peak performance! Also, change your filter inside! If you like your windows open in the fall and early spring like I do, you will want to make sure you do this! All the extra dust and such from having windows open will gather on that filter quickly!  A dirty filter will definitely slow or even mess your HVAC system up! So make a note to change that once a month!                  Get your potting plants ready! Clean out your pot, get your soil and dirt ready for your seeds! Make sure you get them all the stuff they need to get a quick start. Use soil that has a lot of starter or growth additives to it so the seeds can sprout quickly. I even use the plant food that you add to water to help give it that jump-start. Pressure wash your home. Keep your home clean and new-looking by doing this about once a year! Doing it this time of ear it's not too cold or hot, and you can do it and not be overwhelmed! There are many different cleaning products you can buy to help make cleaning easier!  Finally, Pollen! Pollen, pollen, and just more pollen!  If you are not from the south and not use to living in a pine tree-rich environment, be ready! If you have bad allergies or serious sinus problems? Be ready for a month-long adventure. Starting sometime in February and lasting throughout March,  be prepared to be treated by this ugly greenish-yellow colored dust-like substance on a daily, hourly, or every minute of the daily basis! You may want to take over-the-counter allergy meds to prevent any issues or even wear a mask to fight off the dust! Being from the south, we prepared for this, so if you are new to the area or even just to the south, take a friendly precaution and start preparing early. These are just a few helpful tips to get your home and yard ready for the upcoming spring and summer seasons. As always, if you have questions about anything with your home or real estate needs? Anything real estate, feel free to reach out, and I will do the best to answer these questions or concerns. Remember, I am your Nexton connection! Your Summerville Realtor.