The first step to prepping your lawn for spring is to clean up the leaves, twigs and other debris that have fallen over the winter. Not only does it improve the property, it prepares you for good results. Debris can get stuck in your lawn mower, and it will block fertilizers and other materials from being properly absorbed by the lawn.

Rusty advises to apply fertilizer, pre-emergent and weed killer early in spring, using a combination of fertilizer, which feeds the grass, and pre-emergent, an herbicide used to prevent crabgrass. Then, six to eight weeks later, apply both products again, along with a broadleaf weed killer. If you don't get ahead of weeds early in the spring, you'll fight them all season.