It is great to have a normal winter for a change. Someone called it abnormally normal after the dry and warm winter in 2012 and the tons of snow in 2011. This year, the ground is frozen and we’ve had some decent snow cover. Without the constraints of a good old New England winter, a lot of weeds and grubs got away with murder last year.

The frozen ground holds nutrients so they don’t leach out. Nature’s fertilizer (snow) grabs a lot of nitrogen from the air and releases it for spring growth. Low levels of nitrogen in the soil may have contributed to a lot of clover last year. More grubs survive in mild winters like the last one. Winter annual weeds, like chickweed and henbit, that germinate in the fall and winter but spread in the spring had a field day.

As the snow melts and the soil becomes active, I can almost see the soil biology (and our excellent staff) waking up and stretching. In a normal year, 60% of the grass growth comes during six weeks in the spring, so it’s almost time to get going. This is a reminder that we’ll be starting our program shortly, if you would like to sign up.

Now I’m hoping for a normal summer. We feed the soil with organic fertilizers that stimulate the biology and help the lawn get a jump in the spring and survive summer stress. We add compost and limestone and seed in the spring and fall. The better the soil, the better your lawn will look and feel.