De-thatch your lawn – spring time, January – February in SoCal

De-thatching your lawn will create a lot of thatch. This is good for the compost pile unless you have Bermuda grass and then it should be discarded.

Mow your lawn very short but don’t go so low as to burn the grass. If you like a 3” to 4” high blade cut mow is shorter one week then shorter the next.

See picture above for the de-thatching blade, $20-40.

Your lawn will look awful for a couple weeks and then it will green right up, do not de-thatch when it is hot and sunny, cool cloudy day is better as the unexposed parts of your lawn will be exposed.

Remove and inspect your lawn mower blade and take it with you to a home improvement center, 

Home Depot- http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-202251528/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053, 

Lowes, http://www.lowes.com/pd_230601-442-490-100-0076_0__?catalogId=10051&productId=3136467&UserSearch=lawn+mower+dethatching+blade&Ntt=lawn+mower+dethatching+blade&N=0&langId=-1&storeId=10151&rpp=24

so you get the correct size, smaller is OK but not larger. Follow the mfg instructions to assemble the blade and install on your mower. Slowly lower the blade height so that is starts to remove the thatch. This will produce perfect dry material for your compost pile.

When you are finished remove the blade, sharpen your existing blade, or replace with new one of the same size and style.

Water lawn and let it grow a week or two longer than you would normally do to let it recover for the de-thatching, put a light coat of weed n feed lawn fertilizer and watch you lawn turn emerald green.

Your comments or questions are encouraged