If you give your lawn a little special attention this spring, it will be easier to keep lush and green into summer and fall. Here's a recipe for a spring lawn tune-up. Exact timing of what you do will vary depending on where you live and whether you have a warm-season or cool-season lawn. But in most areas you can begin this month. For exact timing in your area, check the Bayer Advanced Garden Calendar.

Fertilize. If you didn't feed your cool-season lawn last fall, do so this spring. In southern areas, it may be time to begin feeding your warm-season lawns. Check your local cooperative extension office or the Bayer Advanced Garden Calendar for more information.

Control insects. In many parts of the country white grubs wreak havoc with lawns. They feed on grass roots and can destroy your entire lawn if left untreated. If you want to get the grubs before they destroy your lawn (for more information click here), apply Bayer Advanced™ Season-Long Grub Control Granules. Its new, patented dual-action formulation promotes turf recovery with essential nutrients and controls grubs all summer long. And don't forget, today's grubs are tomorrow's plant-eating beetles.

If you have also had problems with insects that feed on grass blades, such as armyworms, chinch bugs and sod webworms, use Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer For Soil & Turf Concentrate, Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer For Soil & Turf Granules or Bayer Advanced™ Complete Insect Killer For Soil & Turf Ready-To-Spray. They combine two Bayer CropScience proprietary ingredients that kill more than 50 kinds of above and belowground pests including ants, aphids, armyworms, bagworms, chinch bugs, cockroaches, cutworms, earwigs, fleas, grasshoppers, gypsy moths, lace bugs, leafhoppers, leaf miners, mealybugs, mosquitoes, pine tip moths, rose midges, sod webworms, spiders, spittlebugs, thrips, ticks, white grubs and whiteflies. These products can also be used to control insects on flowers and shrubs. To keep pests away from homes, apply beneath shrubs, around house foundation and nearby grass or weeds.

Control weeds. Weeds compete with grasses for water and nutrients and make your lawn look lousy. A well-cared-for, vigorous lawn will resist weed invasions, but if you have problems, use Bayer Advanced™ All-In-One Weed Killer for Lawns Ready-To-Use. It kills lawn weeds like dandelion and clover, plus grassy weeds, like crabgrass and nutgrass, in one easy step. For St. Augustine lawns and other Southern lawns, use Bayer Advanced™ Southern Weed Killer for Lawns Ready-To-Use to control your broadleaf weeds. When used according to label directions, these products will control the weeds but not harm the lawn.

Aerate. Aerating, which removes small cores of soil, is one of the best things you can do for your lawn. It improves water and nutrient penetration, increases the amount of air that reaches the roots and helps reduce thatch (see below). You can hire a lawn service to aerate your lawn, or rent a power aerator from a local rental yard and do it yourself.

Dethatch. Thatch is a dense layer of organic matter that forms between the leaves and roots of your lawn. If it gets over a 1/2-inch thick, it prevents air, water and nutrients from reaching the roots, and the lawn begins to suffer. You know you have thatch when your lawn has a spongy feel when you walk on it; or if when you turn on the sprinklers, the water is slow to be absorbed and runs into the gutter. You can also check for thatch by cutting a slice out of your lawn with a shovel and examining between the leaves and roots.

If you have a small lawn, you may be able to remove thatch with a thatching rake, but it's hard work. A simpler solution is to rent a power rake or dethatcher from a local rental yard. It easily rips out thatch but does leave a lot of debris to rake up.

Check sprinklers. Spring is also the best time to check your irrigation system. A little work now will prevent dead spots in your lawn later this summer. If you have a permanent, belowground system, turn it on and watch it run. Fix clogged or broken sprinklers and adjust those that are hitting sidewalks or fences. Make sure lawn sprinklers are covering the entire lawn. Set automatic timers for your spring watering schedule.

Water properly. Don't start watering until you're sure your lawn needs it (you'll notice a change in color from bright green to dull gray-green). Waiting as long as possible will encourage deeper roots and better drought tolerance later. When you do water, wet the soil to a depth of about 6–8 inches (check by probing the soil with a stiff wire; it will move easily through moist soil and stop when it reaches dry), then don't water again until the soil has partially dried. This time of year that should be at least a week in most areas.