Well its that time of year again for us northern climates to start to prepare the lawns for summer beauty!

What'* your secret to a nice green healthy lawn? What steps do you take to cultivate a nice green patch of lawn? Can you use chemicals, or do you do it the natural way?

My house and my lawn are the most visible part of the house and I've always felts that looking at a home in the summer, the lawn makes or breaks what I think of the place.

Express your thoughts, tips and gardening successes here!

My dad always told me that when spring hits, and you know the snow is done, fertilize every other week until it needs to be cut. Then once you've cut it the first time, fertilize one time monthly, and during the summer water your grass very often. Every year my dad'* lawn looks A+.

More and more cities are adopting pesticide and chemical bans, as well as water restrictions, so lawn care must become more natural these days, so if it rains alot at least the watering part has some help, but what are people doing these days to replace fertilizers and pesticides? Don't say you let a cow graze on your lawn, we have a ban on that too!

Ive heard of one guy putting beer on his lawn, another uses dish soap before he feeds his lawn.

My dog has made some nice dark green patches. I'm fixing the rest with Scott'* Turf Builder. Seems to be working.

I fertilized it once before the snow returned. It'* now ready to be mowed.

My theory is: the more I feed it and water it, the more it grows. The more it grows, the more I have to mow it.

Is that good or bad???

We haven't had a chance to do much of anything here yet. The ground is still pretty mushy. But, against the advice of the local experts, I did rake a couple of spots that were buried in maple seeds. I plan to put some grass seed down before it rains this weekend. Maybe it will have a chance to catch before the tree leaves up and blocks the sun there.

Speaking of which, does anyone know if dripping maple sap kills other plants, specifically grass? I can't seem to get anything to grow under either maple tree in my front yard.