Your lawn consists of thousands and thousands of tiny little plants that group together closely to form patches of grass. Plants need fertilizer to grow healthy. We know we need to fertilize our garden and house plants, but often, the lawn is overlooked. A green lawn needs food to grow and thrive.

Fertilizer is any material supplying one or more essential plant nutrients. Most common turf grass fertilizers include nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, but they may also include other essential mineral elements for turf grass growth.

Fertilizers do more than make your lawn green. They help the grass grow too, but there's a little more involved. Fertilizer will help grass seed germinate quicker and get started out of the ground. After the plants have established, fertilizer will make the grass thicker and healthier.

The most common questions asked by homeowners regarding fertilizers is how much and when. Generally speaking, most lawns will need four applications of fertilizer per year.

Spread fertilizing out 60 days apart starting in early spring approximately 30 days before the growing season starts in your area. Continue fertilization through the growing season until fall. Spring fertilizing gets the grass off to a fast start giving you that rich green color everyone wants.

As in watering, you should avoid using too much fertilizer. General guidelines should be included on the bag. Too much fertilizer will cause excess growth, lead to fungus growth and weaken the grass.

What type of fertilizer should you use? Well, the answer depends on your and your needs. However, there are two basic types: complete and balanced. Complete fertilizers contain nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, but they may also include other essential minerals elements for turf grass growth.

Complete fertilizers contain nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in the same product. If a fertilizer contains less than all three elements it is referred to as an incomplete fertilizer. If urea, a 46-0-0 incomplete fertilizer, is used for every application through the season, lower turf quality may result if other essential elements are not being supplied by the soil.

Balanced fertilizers provide nutrients in a predetermined ratio that best meets the plant's requirements for those elements. Turf grasses require nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium in the approximate ratio of 3-1-2, 4-1-2, or 8-1-3. Remember that the right balanced fertilizer ratio will differ with grass type, and is also influenced by soil levels of certain elements

You may want to get a slow-release fertilizer that lets their nutrients out slowly over a period of time. These fertilizers are commercially produced and available at most home stores.

Because these lawn fertilizers release their nutrients over time, rather than all at once, you're essentially stretching out the feeding. As nutrients are released, the root system of your grass fills in any bare patches. This in itself promotes lawn weed control, depriving weed seeds of a place to germinate. Before buying these or any other lawn fertilizers, read the instructions on the bag carefully (or ask someone at the store for details). A particular product may not be suitable for your type of grass. Likewise, when applying lawn fertilizers, follow directions explicitly, concerning how much to apply, how often they should be applied, and under what conditions they should be applied. Lawn fertilizers are best applied with spreaders. Be advised not to fill the applicator with the spreader parked on the lawn. Doing so invites grass-burn, as you may accidentally discharge too much while loading. Instead, fill the applicator somewhere else, then wheel the spreader onto the lawn.

Many people are going green with their growing using chemical free fertilizers and weed control. However, they don't necessarily provide you with an advantage when fertilizing your lawn and garden.

Plants absorb nutrients in the same way, whether the source be organic or a conventional fertilizer. Turf grass roots will only absorb dissolved nutrients found in the soil water. Organic fertilizers do not offer any advantages to the care of your lawn. The choice is strictly personal preference.

In addition, there are lawn fertilizers that promote lawn weed control at the same time. Effective lawn weed control should, after all, go hand-in-hand with the application of lawn fertilizers: if the weeds suck up some of the nutrients that you're supplying, those are nutrients being wasted, as they are not going to your grass.

Fortunately, applying lawn fertilizers and practicing weed control can be integrated into the same chore - if you play your cards right!