Lawns require a balanced blend

Your lawn needs a balanced fertilizer with nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium to keep it healthy and strong. Most soils have some of these elements present, but usually they become depleted over the years. Turf is a very hungry plant during its major growing seasons.

Proper fertilizing with balanced applications throughout the growing season promotes thick, dense grass that can resist disease and weed invasions. Applying too much of any one of the basic elements can cause erratic results. For example, an over abundance of nitrogen will cause rapid growth of the grass plants that the roots can't adequately handle; the blades become long and spindly. Balance is the key. As of yet, there is no magic pill for the perfect lawn.

Ideally, you should do a soil test before applying any fertilizer. Some areas have already high levels of phosphorous in the soil. In that case, additional phosphorus is not needed and could cause problems.