Much of a suburban male's manhood is measured not by the size of his weed whacker, but by the green of his lawn. And for the first few weeks of spring, my manhood was shriveled and brown. The neighbors on both sides decided to pay someone to fertilize their yard. I am a DIY (Do-it-Yourselfer) and don't need professional help. But didn't have time until a few weeks ago to fix my yard so it got a little limp. So I got a big bag of Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer. Did it green my yard at a fraction of the cost? Did it restore my manhood to the proper level of green?
Read on, dear reader...
•• What it is ••
Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer is a nitrogen-rich lawn fertilizer in slow release granular form.
•• Features and Commentary ••
Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer comes in a 15 pound bag. Larger sizes are available, but I'm not fertilizing an acreage. I live in suburbia, don't forget. The instructions on the bag are easy to use and this bag is designed to cover 5000 square feet. This bag should last me all summer.
The ratio of fertilizer is 29-3-4. I'm not a super gardening expert, but I do know that the first number is the nitrogen content. And nitrogen is what makes the grass green and therefore restores my neighborhood and strengthens my male pheromones. I don't know what the other 2 numbers are, but if they don't cure my grass's male pattern baldness, I don't care.
There are three types of spreaders. The hand held whirlybird spreader is the one I use. You can also use the push broadcast spreader or a drop spreader. I don't recommend a drop spreader. Why? Have you ever seen those lawns that seem to have green and light-green stripes in them? That comes from using a drop spreader. I'm sure some people swear by them, but I prefer the hand held broadcast whirlybird spreader. I simply fill the top part, adjust the settings and pace my lawn back and forth as if I'm in deep thought.
The Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer worked well with the spreader because the granules seem to be smaller than other fertilizers I've used. Often times, the reservoir gets clogged and I have to shake it. This ultimately results in some spillage of fertilizer which ends up either making the grass super green in that spot or burning it to a brown. With the Scotts, the fertilizer flowed nicely and evenly.
But, I boasted about the joys of a whirly-bird spreader. The problem with this type of spreader is that the hand cranking motion can be uneven. This is what happened to me and I got circles of green where the spreader distributed more fertilizer. Also, the places I overlapped were greener than others for the same reason. The point of this is the Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer greens so well, it is unforgiving of human error. Miss a spot and you'll notice.
So I waited 2 weeks and did it again. Keep in mind, that my grass had only been fertilized by generic fertilizers which never seemed to do any good.
The lawn was starving so I was confident that fertilizing again would be OK. And I was right. Much like a second coat of wax on a car, this second application evened out the green in the lawn. After waiting about a week, it was thick and lush and perfectly green. As a matter of fact it is far greener than the neighbors who insist on paying a service to do it for them.
It should be noted that the bag says it is guaranteed to not burn your lawn. I can attest to this truth by my actions of fertilizing 2 times in a month. It might be that the frequent rain in our area helped wash it in. I don't know, but I was very liberal with the stuff and it had no ill effects.
Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer is not a weed'n feed so it won't kill weeds. You'll need a separate weed killer for that job. Some might complain about that, but I can't fault it since it never claimed to be. It's kind of like blaming your toaster for not making coffee.
Some general advice that holds true of all fertilizer including this brand is that you need to sweep the sidewalk afterward. If you don't, you'll get little rust spots everywhere there is a piece of fertilizer. The rust spots go away, but are a sure sign that you are a lawn amateur.
This can hardly be a negative since this is the desired effect, but the grass grows so think and fast that you'll need to mow it at least every 3 or 4 hours. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but I do notice that I can't see the dogs paws in the growing grass sooner than a week after mowing it. But again, that is desired result and the price you pay for having a prettier plume than the other males.
Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer is much more expensive than your house brand of fertilizer. But with the no burn guarantee, Scott's reputation, and solid product reviews, the price is worth it.
•• Conclusion ••
Is your grass pale and limp? A simple bag of Scotts Turf Builder Lawn Fertilizer will perk up your turf!
Recommended:
Yes