My wife always tells me, "you never look at the cup half full - it's always half empty to you." While I disagree with this statement, it did inspire me to write a post that focused on the mistakes you can make when caring for your lawn. Of course, not all of these mistakes are "life threatening" to your lawn, however making them can cause un-needed stress on your grass, promoting disease, insect damage, and having a lawn that is... well, ugly. So in rapid fashion, we'll run down the five things you SHOULD NOT do when taking care of your lawn this spring.

Take This With a Grain of Salt...

With any lawn care topic, there will be those that argue the other side of the coin. With that said, these statements are based on our owner - Rob Palmer's 25 years of personal experience within the industry. Rob is a respected member of the lawn care community, and current board president for the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation. So in other words; he's a pretty reputable guy. 

Here's Rob's Top 5 DIY Spring Lawn Care Mistakes: 

1. Do Not Roll Your Lawn - this is one of the oldest tall tales in the book. Often you'll here "This Ol' House" or some other DIY television show promote rolling your lawn. However, the truth of the matter is that it causes more harm than actual good. For instance, if you're on your lawn too early in the spring, you risk rutting the lawn. Also, by rolling the lawn in the early spring, you can break the "crown" of the turf blade, causing dead spots throughout your lawn.
   
   Read More: The Dangers of Rolling Your Lawn
   
2. Do Not De-Thatch Your Lawn - as the season progresses along, you often get a build up of dead grass blades in your lawn from mowing, or just the natural life cycle. Often, homeowners get the idea that it's best to remove this "thatch" so the lawn looks better. However, de-thatching the lawn can cause damage to the crown of the plant, causing irreversible damage to the turfblade. 
   
   Read More: Controlling Your Thatch Without Hurting Your Lawn
   
   
3. Do Not Apply Pre-Emergent Crabgrass Preventer & Seed at the Same Time - this spring you'll want to spot seed any areas of your lawn that may be bare. However, you'll also want to apply a crabgrass pre-emergent application to protect your lawn from the out-break of crabgrass later this spring. However, be careful; applying crabgrass pre-emergent and seeding at the same time will actually prevent the grass seed from germinating. 
   
   Read More: How to Seed Your Lawn AND Apply Pre-Emergent
   
   
4. Do Not Mow The Lawn Too Short - I think the natural thing people do when emerging out of a long winter is to mow the lawn back to reduce the amount of "ugly" grass blades visible in the lawn. Well, mowing the lawn too short can actually cause more harm than good. No matter what time of year it is, you should keep the lawn at a proper height.
   
   Read More: 5 Ways to Properly Mow Your Lawn
   
   
5. Do Not Put Pre-Emergent Down Too Early - thoughts of spring and a lawn full of crabgrass can often encourage people to apply crabgrass pre-emergent at the wrong time of the year. Crabgrass pre-emergent, such as Dimension, has a time period of protection. Crabgrass germination does not follow a calendar, and only happens when soil temperatures are right. So if you put down crabgrass pre-emergent down too early, you may not have protection when it's finally warm enough for the weed to germinate.
   
   Read More: The Best Time to Apply Crabgrass Pre-Emergent

Want More Spring DIY Lawn Care Tips? Download the Kit! 

Okay, so we've thrown a lot at you with this post. Combine the 5 Do Not's with the 5 Do's and one can get a bit confused. That's why we created a DIY Lawn Care Kit that will help guide you through the process. This kit is yours absolutely free by clicking on the button below!