Here in East. Wash. we are having a crazy "Spring" as well (if you can call it that). The last few days it's been snowing off and on, and it's been more usual to see snow in the morning than not. Hopefully the turn will happen this weekend and we'll be done with Winter-like conditions.

I'm wondering about the need and timing of vertical mowing. At first I was thinking it's too early for that, but I have seen my neighbors out dethatching and fertilizing and such. Maybe I should back up a bit and give some history.

My family moved into this house last April, when the grass was already green and growing. Fast forward to this year where I swear my yard is the last to green up, and is still VERY patchy (brown grass) in a lot of areas. We did have someone come out a couple weeks ago and aerate. I was hoping this would be all I would need to do to start evaluating my thatch issue.

If it's correct to look over the plugs in different areas of the lawn and see how much is dirt vs grass/roots to assess for thatch, I would say I have approx. 1"- maybe more.

Should I look into having someone come out to vertical mow now? More into the growing season? Not at all this year? I've toyed with just fertilizing and watching/waiting but every time I go outside I'm annoyed with my more brown than green lawn by comparison to those around me.

Thoughts- advice?