With spring time on it's way (sooner or later) there are a few things you can do to your lawn to get the best success.

Every spring as the weather warms up and the BBQ's start getting fired up, lawns always come to mind (and mainly in men's mind at that). The winter can take it's toll on all of us and your lawn, but there are some steps you can take to get the perfect lawn.

Raking your lawn hard is one of the most important things you can do in the spring to get a healthy lawn. Make sure the ground is relatively dry and isn't soft and squishy. By raking hard, you pull out all the old dead grass and lift up some of the matted grass to keep fungus problems to a minimum. It does take a considerable amount of elbow grease, but it really is the best thing you can do from your lawn. A good annual raking effectively acts like basic de-thatching.

I'm not really a big fan or aeration in residential lawns. Unless your have incredibly high traffic on your lawn, mother nature takes care of that for you. Earthworms are the most common and the best aerators out there.

Doing a little over-seeding of your lawn is a great way to thicken it up a little. Grass seed is quite inexpensive and it's easy to apply. It grows best when seeded early in the year, or very late in the year - anytime there is an "r" in the month which makes April ideal. Under ideal conditions, the seed should be covered with a little soil, but applying the seed and a little raking is usually sufficient. When over seeding, use half the rate listed on the package. Too much seed just causes excessive competition so keep the rates down. Pick a shade mix for shady locations and a sun mix for sunny locations.

If you have dogs and get tired of those little spots on your lawn, lime can be added to help counter the acidity. It also can help counter the acidity of evergreens and sometimes cedar mulch, which makes it equally suitable for flower beds as it is for lawns. If you see patches of moss rather than grass, you have an acidity issue and that's where the lime really makes a difference.

For salt damage, try using gypsum to help sweeten the soil. If you have left-over Gypsum, it's a great addition to your vegetable garden and prevents bud-rot. All in all, you end up with a better vegetable garden with a little bit of gypsum added.

When it comes to fertilizing, we're into another category. Traditional synthetic fertilizers have very high nitrogen which green up your lawn quickly. As good as they are, the overall direction of growing methods is changing. Moving to more natural solutions and less concentrated fertilizers does take a little more effort but produces a hardier and healthier lawn. In Canada, Myke is the primary organic fertilizer for your lawn. It's a three-step program for spring, summer, and fall. It seems quite effective as an organic fertilizer. It's comprised mainly of feather meal, bone meal, blood meal, lime, and a few other ingredients. One great advantage of these natural sources of nutrients is the staying power they have. Unlike high-dose synthetics which can leech out of the soil, these other sources tend to hang around the plant roots a little longer, though you do need multiple applications. Myke is also great for pets because it's not salt-based so it's not hard on their paws.

One of the best products we've used for super-lawns is Peat Pellets. It's not very common, but our customers who have tried it swear by it. Effectively, it's small bits of peat moss compressed into small pellets and mixed with a very low dose of fertilizer. This makes it easy to spread over your lawn with a regular spreader. As the pellets absorb moisture, they expand and create a small thin layer of top-dressing over the lawn. This works wonders when applied just after overseeding and in conjunction with Myke fertilizer. Some users have also noticed a reduction of insects on their lawn with peat pellets since they don't like to travel through a layer of soil into your lawn. It's also much easier process than spreading top soil or peat moss over your lawn with a shovel and rake.