Beautiful green grass enhances your yard and increases the value of your home, while providing you with an ideal space to play, read or unwind.
Few basic steps are all it takes to keep your lawn healthy and looking its best. Regular mowing and watering, annual de-thatching, and aerating help your grass fight off disease, insects, weeds and drought more effectively.
Mowing
All grasses require ample sunlight in order to thrive, so shady lawn areas with browning grass could be due to insufficient light exposure. Consider reseeding these areas with shade-tolerant varieties or finding other ways to bring in additional light such as thin out trees and shrubs or using a mulching kit with your mower to keep leaves and clippings from blocking sunlight.
Mowing regularly will also help prevent weeds from seeding, but take care not to cut too close as this could damage or kill the grass. Aim for 3-inch height mowing as this outcompetes weeds while cooling soil temperature and inhibiting fungus growth. Inactive periods should also be added with slow release fertilizer to inhibit overgrowth and promote deeper roots.
Alternating mowing direction when cutting can also help control weeds by avoiding rutting on the soil surface and encouraging more even grass growth. This prevents rutting from degrading it further while helping grass develop more evenly.
Regular mowing allows you to identify problem areas within the lawn. If there are many bare patches or areas with lots of crabgrass, this could be an indication that nutrients are lacking; adding lime, spreading mulch or compost and spreading mulch or compost over clay soils can reduce acidity while aerating compacted sandy or loamy soils will improve nutrient availability and availability.
Crabgrass may indicate a deficiency of nitrogen, which can be addressed with fertilizer. Many experts advocate using natural herbicides instead, such as corn gluten or salts from fatty acids as they work by blocking sunlight and moisture needs that aid weed growth.
If weeds continue to plague your yard, try pulling them by hand or applying an organic weed killer. Or scatter grass seeds over any bare areas and aerate your soil in order to bring back health to the turf. And don’t forget about any invasive plants which compete for water and nutrients with your grass!
Watering
No two lawns are alike, requiring customized watering schedules suited to local climate conditions, soil types, and grass species. Watering on a set schedule promotes deep roots that are resistant to drought and disease while simultaneously conserving valuable drinking and irrigation water resources.
Signs that your lawn needs water include limp or spongey grass when walking across, dull colors with grayish tint, and grayish patches of soil. A healthy lawn typically features dense growth that competes against germinating weeds while acting as an effective barrier against erosion.
If your lawn is struggling, more may be needed than water alone. Aerate the soil to loosen it up and prevent thatch formation; additionally, this practice helps lower fertilizer needs as nutrients reach roots more readily.
Another key tip is preventing overwatering. Overwatering can lead to fungal issues and promote shallow, weak roots which are more prone to drought and disease. One way to ensure you don’t overdo it with watering is to water deeply rather than frequently.
Assigning a specific watering schedule to help manage costs. Set a 30-minute timer, and check to see how far the water has penetrated using a screwdriver to gauge how saturated your soil has become. Repeat this step every 15 minutes until 6 inches or more have been covered by saturated soil – this gives an accurate sense of how long your lawn should be watered each time.
Newly seeded lawns should be watered two to three times each day after seed germination has started, since seed germinates within hours of receiving moisture and requires it for growth. Morning is preferable as temperatures tend to be cooler and less likely for moisture vaporization before it can absorb into the grass.
Fertilizing
An inviting lawn creates an eye-catching aesthetic and protects against erosion, cools the environment, reduces allergens and dust mites. One way to maintain this appearance is through regular fertilization – fertilizers provide essential nutrients your grass requires for its optimal growth, helping it better tolerate stressors such as drought or disease while developing deeper roots to ward off weeds.
According to this detailed guide, most soils naturally contain all three primary nutrients required for healthy turf – nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium – but due to leaching or other factors they often become depleted over time. Therefore, fertilizers provide additional supplements designed to increase their availability by complementing what your soil already provides.
When choosing a fertilizer for your lawn, keep in mind that each lawn is different and requires various levels of nutrients. Some fertilizers contain both macro- and micronutrients for maximum efficiency while other contain only single nutrients like nitrogen or phosphorous; the type of fertilizer required often depends on season or soil condition – conducting a soil test is the best way to establish how many nutrients your yard requires.
Watering is essential in maintaining a healthy lawn. A weekly deep soak promotes deep root systems more effectively than numerous light waterings spread out over a week’s time, while frequent, shallow waterings may lead to thatch (an unsightly web of dry brown runners just above the soil that harbors weed growth while leaving grass vulnerable to disease and drought).
Spread lawn fertilizers evenly for optimal results. When using liquid fertilizers, be sure to apply only when the soil is damp; for spreaders, make sure you follow manufacturer’s instructions for application while walking slowly so the product gets distributed evenly by your spreader.
Applying fertilizer is an excellent low-impact workout that can help you burn calories while strengthening your back, neck and shoulders. Plus it makes for a fun activity to share with family and friends!
Weeding
A beautiful lawn is one of the hallmarks of a well-managed property. Unfortunately, unwelcome guests like weeds can steal water and nutrients away from it, leading to its struggle for survival and diminishing its aesthetic beauty. Therefore, proper lawn care practices with timed pre-emergent weed control is critical in order to maintain it effectively.
Weeds thrive wherever there is open space and sunlight, making a dense, healthy lawn the best defense against their spread. A thin or patchy lawn allows weed seeds to germinate and establish themselves easily while dense and healthy grass chokes out any attempts by weeds to compete with its presence.
Regular mowing helps suppress annual weeds by keeping them at a manageable length and not giving them time to go to seed. Regular watering also plays an important role in suppressing annual weeds by making it harder for them to take root and relieving stress off of grass, but care must be taken not to overwater, which may cause fungal diseases and fungus growth in your lawn.
Aerating your soil can also help you combat weeds by loosening any compacted areas, and allowing air circulation more freely. Many experts advise combining rototilling with adding loam, compost, or sand to your soil in order to improve its quality. Slit seeding or spot-applying granular weed preventative products may also help fill bare patches so weed growth becomes more difficult.
Chemical herbicides are one way to control weeds, but it should be noted that these can sometimes damage grass as well. As such, many professionals prefer organic weed control products made of corn gluten or salts derived from fatty acids instead. These will safely eliminate weeds without harming grass.
Soil health is vital to creating an appealing lawn, so it is crucial that any thatch build-up be eliminated, which could hold back the growth of weeds and prevent their sprouting. Also, testing should be performed on the soil in order to ascertain its pH level; this information can help determine which fertilizer type will best fit. Clover is known to thrive in soil with an acidity level between 7.5 and 7.7 and serves as an excellent natural fertilizer that turns nitrogen from the air into something grass can use.