<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"  Think of your lawn as a crop that&amp;#039;s harvested once a week. It takes a lot of nutrition, water and care to keep it growing. Here&amp;#039;s the action plan. Begin in early spring with a soil pH test to determine the acidity or alkalinity of the soil--a value of 6.5 is ideal. You may need to decrease the acidity (i.e., raise the pH) with an application of lime. Next, spread a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer to enrich the soil. If you have a weed problem, you may also decide to spread a &amp;quot;pre-emergent&amp;quot; herbicide, which kills rogue species before they begin to grow. There are organic options: Corn gluten meal, for instance, both fertilizes the lawn and suppresses weeds. Whatever lawn care material you use, always sweep chemicals from pavements when you&amp;#039;re done. This helps keep the chemicals from washing into water bodies, polluting them and harming aquatic life. Also, check with a nursery or agricultural extension office to time applications correctly, especially of herbicides. As a rule of thumb, watch any forsythia in your neighborhood--when it blooms, soil temperature is on the rise and weeds will soon germinate. It&amp;#039;s a great time to spread fertilizer with pre-emergent. Then, hold off on laying down grass seed until the herbicide loses its punch, which may take a month or more. As an alternative, you can skip the spring planting and spread seed in the fall instead. In most of the United States, it&amp;#039;s wise to make a second fertilizer pass in late summer or early fall. Apply fertilizer one last time in late fall or early winter, just before the ground freezes and the lawn goes dormant, to set the lawn up for a good start in the spring. In all but the warmest regions, take the winter off. You&amp;#039;ve earned it. Fertilizer Lawn fertilizer&amp;#039;s job is to deliver some basic chemicals, the most important being nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K). In turf-maintenance lingo, the ratio of these chemicals is the NPK, or simply its &amp;quot;analysis.&amp;quot; It&amp;#039;s printed on every bag of fertilizer--and different NPKs are best for specific conditions and seasons. * A typical spring/summer blend has an NPK of 29-2-4. * Seed starter blends have a phosphorus-heavy NPK of 18-24-6. * Fall/early winter blends typically have an NPK of 22-2-14.   &amp;amp;gt; %&amp;quot; align=&amp;quot;center&amp;quot; style=&amp;quot;padding:2px; background-color:#cccccc;&amp;quot;&amp;amp;gt;Nitrogen Promotes growth and chlorophyll formation. All lawn fertilizers contain lots of nitrogen, but it&amp;#039;s particularly prominent in spring/summer blends. Most granules in the blend will release the nitrogen gradually, but fast-release material is included, too. %&amp;quot; align=&amp;quot;center&amp;quot; style=&amp;quot;padding:2px;&amp;quot;&amp;amp;gt;Phosphorous Helps establish roots in grass grown from seed and develops roots on grass plugs and sod. Buy low- or no-phosphorus fertilizer if you&amp;#039;re not establishing seed, plugs or sod--the runoff harms waterways by promoting aquatic weed growth. %&amp;quot; align=&amp;quot;center&amp;quot; style=&amp;quot;padding:2px; background-color:#cccccc;&amp;quot;&amp;amp;gt;Potassium Contributes to overall plant health, stress resistance and heat and cold tolerance. Combined with nitrogen, potassium helps the plants form carbohydrates over the winter. High-potassium fall fertilizers yield lawn health benefits all year long. Corn Gluten Meal   The new kid on the fertilizer block is corn gluten meal, a byproduct of corn processing. It provides a shot of nitrogen (NPK 9-0-0) and naturally suppresses weeds. Don&amp;#039;t use it with newly planted grass seed though, because its herbicidal properties will also suppress seedling growth. Plan to pay a lot for it. It&amp;#039;s roughly six times the cost of synthetic fertilizers. A 50-pound bag of corn gluten meal costs $33 to $50 and will fertilize anywhere from 1250 to 2500 sq. ft. The equivalent weight of synthetic product costs roughly the same but can cover up to 15,000 sq. ft.  (Photograph by Levi Brown) "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/lawn-garden/how-to/a2788/4258431/>