It's that time of year again when people start freaking out about their lawns. Climate change and global warming don't seem to worry homeowners as much as having the best lawn on the block. Xeriscaping -- well, someday, maybe, but not this year.  So out come the Scotts products, the fertilizer, the sprayers, the crabgrass patrol.

There's another way this year to help with the quest for the greenest lawn this side of the British Isles. Colorado State University Cooperative Extension has come out with a program that will put expert eyeballs on homeowners' lawns, CSU Lawncheck.  A memer of the Cooperative Extension horticultural staff will come out to your home and do a diagnosis plus recommendations.

It's not available everywhere in Colorado.  It will begin in the metro Denver counties of Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, El Paso and Jefferson, and in Mesa, Delta, Montrose and Ouray counties on the Western Slope. Just call the Cooperative Extension office in your county and make a date with an expert.  It does cost.  But $75 (plus mileage) hardly seems like a lot of money to pay for a personal visit.

Check out the CSU Extension website, and be on your way to a blue-ribbon, or shall we say green-ribbon lawn.