Doug Bunn — The Honey Do Husband

If you have cool season grasses Valentines is coming up. This time to fertilize your grass you might want to consider a fertilizer with a pre-emergent weed killer in it. I always look for an ingredient to kill or stop the emergence of crabgrass. Crabgrass is easy to identify, it looks like a crab you might see at the beach or on the sound side. Crabgrass will spread and take over choking out your fescue. Crabgrass will not hurt your bermuda or any of the warm season grasses,,, as far as I know. This will be the last time you give your cool season grasses any nourishment until Labor day, September. I don’t bag my grass clippings and they fall on the lawn and fertilize the lawn on a slow and continuing basis.

About 1 week or maybe 2 weeks after Valentines you will need to mow down your liriope. I usually set my lawn mower deck as high as I can and mow all the liriope. I also pick up the clippings and put them in the compost pile. It only takes a couple of months and they look like soil or mulch.

February is a good time to prune your hardwood limbs that need to go for the benefit of the tree or the side or roof of  your home. If you have a chipper you can chip the limbs and put them in the compost pile. It will take these chips much longer to be broken down but your neighbor’s grass clippings will help once the mowing season starts and they are plentiful.