I've developed a nasty reputation just because I nag about one little thing: Raking too early.
When I see people out in their yards the day after the snow melts, I shake my head and complain to my husband, my coworkers, to anyone who'll listen: "It's too early to rake! What are they thinking?"
I know what they're thinking. They're trying to do the ol' Minnesota thing and "get a jump on the season." They're trying to make their poor, winter-ravaged lawns look like they do in the middle of June. But what they're really doing is ripping those tiny, vulnerable grass plants out of the ground. And compacting the soil.
The more the early birds rake and rip, the more I shake my head, mutter and complain. (Hence the reputation.)
But I'm not the only one who's kooky about right-timing raking. Bob Mugaas, the U of M expert on all things grass, tests his lawn with a soil probe -- A SOIL PROBE! -- before he rakes. (An activity for which he takes a lot of ribbing.)
To his credit, Mugaas said you don't need a probe.
There's an easier way to know if your grass is ready to be raked: "Just go out and walk in the yard a bit," said Mugaas. "If it feels firm underfoot, it's OK. It can be damp, but you don't want it to be squishy."
Mugaas and I have been walking around in our respective yards -- he with his probe, me with my mutter. He said he's going to wait another day or two and then he's going to cut loose with his lightweight, fan-shaped, lawn rake. (Not the heavy iron garden rake. Never the heavy iron garden rake.)
