10 of the Most Effective Lawn Care Tips
There is nothing nicer for your property’s curb appeal than a rich, verdant and lush lawn. A beautiful green lawn doesn’t happen magically. It takes the correct techniques, the right tools, and the knowledge of how to fertilize and water your grass to optimize healthy growth. That’s why we compiled this convenient list of the best lawn care tips you can implement to improve your lawns health.
Are you new to lawn care? Perhaps now if the first time you’ve had front and/or backyard grass to take care of. Even if you are a newbie when it comes to being a caretaker to your lawn, it can be quite manageable and simple with some helpful and practical recommendations.
Here are some lawn-care tips that will enable you to maintain a yard that will make your neighbors jealous.
10 Tips for a Greener Lawn
Test the Soil
Don’t randomly apply fertilizer without first testing the soil. Soil testing gives you a clear picture of the nutrients that are already in your soil. There are some companies that do what they can to ensure soil testing and provide customized fertilizer that will prevent waste and encourage stronger and greener grass growth.
In the meantime, during the fall, try top-dressing the soil with a layer of what is lacking, and this might include peat, topsoil, sand, or compost.
Aerate Your Lawn
Lawn-care experts suggest frequently aerating your lawn. Aerating your lawn means you are perforating the soil with small holes. Aerating is an important component in the care regimen for your lawn. By aerating your lawn, it allows air and water to penetrate accumulated grass or lawn thatch.
Aerating your lawn also makes it easier for water, nutrients, sunlight and air to reach the roots. The best time to aerate is during the growing season.
Maintain Height of Your Grass
You may think that mowing your grass as short as possible is the most efficient way to cut your grass. Then you don’t have to mow as frequently. But this is not actually good for your grass. Cutting the grass too short puts considerable pressure on your turf and this could negatively affect the health of your yard. A good general rule is that the ideal height for your grass is between two and 2.5 inches, depending on the grass type and where you live.
The extra length is helpful for your grass to absorb the sun. Additionally, longer grass takes longer to dry out.
“Follow the one-third rule, which is never cutting off more than one-third of the grass leaf blade during one mowing,” says Mark Schmidt, Principal Scientist at John Deere.
Deepen Your Roots
For an ultra-healthy lawn, it is better to have deeper roots, as they are more resourceful. These roots reach further for water, as well as for nutrients. They also need less care and input. What this does is encourage your roots to work harder to produce a more self-reliant lawn.
In order to foster deeper roots, be sure not to overwater your lawn and, as mentioned earlier, maintain the proper height for your lawn.
Implement Pest Control Measures
You might consider hiring a specialist to gain control over pests in your yard. As a stop-gap measure, you could buy pest control products at a garden store.
We recommend perimeter pest control as the most effective way to stay on top of any pest issues. Also, keep in mind that there are many insects that are not harmful to your lawn, and some are even beneficial. Remove just the harmful and damaging pest insects.
Perimeter Pest Control – Colonial Lawn & Garden
You don’t have to endure pest infestations, thanks to perimeter pest control provided by Colonial Lawn & Garden. We’ll lay down an invisible barrier that will keep these troublesome creatures out of your home, so you can live in peace.
Call Colonial Lawn & Garden today for a barrier against pests around your home.
Select the Right Grass
When you plant the wrong species of grass, or don’t water at the correct time of day, there is a lot of water waste. In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that as much as 50 percent of water used for landscaping is wasted.
In order to promote water conservation, lawn-care experts recommend growing the right type of grasses. This could be cool-season grasses like Kentucky bluegrass or tall fescue, which thrive in cool, northwest zones. You are better off planting warmer-season grasses, such as Zoysia or Bermudagrass in warmer, southern climates.
Water Less
One of the most important aspects of watering is doing so at the right time. Early morning watering is ideal, according to lawn-care experts. It makes it possible for water to be absorbed before overhead sunlight causes droplets to evaporate quickly. It also brings about deep hydration.
Schedule your lawn watering as follows: deep and infrequent watering, once or twice a week, instead of every day. If you water daily, it can make your grass weak and the weeds and moss will thrive in the excess water. Too much watering also makes your grass vulnerable to diseases like brown patch.
There are some helpful indications that signal your lawn may need more watering. They include footprints that are still visible longer than a half hour, or a blue, gray, or purple tint to the grass.
Fertilize Your Lawn
Just as vitamins play an important role in keeping people healthy and boosting the immune system, it is the same for your lawn. All year-long, your grass needs fertilizing in order to remain healthy. Fertilizer is vital to the health and well-being of your grass and turf.
It is best to have a professional lawn-care service handle your fertilization needs. If this is a DIY task, then we recommend choosing a granular product to keep things simple. We advise you purchase a product that is rich in nutrients and be sure to follow the label instructions.
Combat Weeds
Weeds always seem to show up in bunches. You can be sure that when you see a weed permeating the top soil, there will be more weeds lurking underneath. As you pull the weed, avoid overly disturbing the soil. Tossing the soil could make it more likely that new weeds will emerge to the surface and grow.
You might think about adding mulch to your yard’s design. It will look nice and it encourages weed-eating insects to move in. This makes weed control much easier.
Weed Control – Colonial Lawn & Garden
Our program is designed to proactively prevent weeds such as crabgrass, oxalis and spurge. We also control those weeds that do manage to break through with post-emergent weed control treatments.
Through Colonial Lawn & Garden’s weed control program, you can fight back. We use safe control methods, so you’re not putting the grass, your family, or any pets in danger.
Practice Grass Cycling
You might begin leaving grass clippings on your lawn after you finish mowing. Why? The organic material delivers nutrients, which means you will use less fertilizer and you will greatly limit waste.
According to lawn-care experts, grass cycling is most effective when you cut just a third of the grass blade at a time and your mower blades are well sharpened. This means the grass clippings are small and they will break down quickly.
One idea is to use a mulching blade or kit. This will produce shorter clippings that will work their way down through the turf canopy more efficiently and decompose faster. This releases the natural nutrients back into the turf system.
Look to Colonial Lawn & Garden for Exceptional Lawn Care Services
Colonial Lawn & Garden is committed to providing exceptional service with outstanding results at a fair value. Founded in 1985 by Lance Forsee, Colonial Lawn & Garden continues to work hard to build win-win relationships with our clients. Experience for yourself the Colonial difference.
We make it our business to keep your landscape healthy and vibrant all year long. Whether it’s lawn fertilizer/weed control, pest control, or sprinkler system maintenance that you need, we have you covered.
Colonial Lawn and Garden has been maintaining and enhancing landscapes in Yakima and Tri-Cities for over 35 years. We are Washington’s first choice for quality lawn and tree services in Yakima, Selah, Richland, Kennewick, Pasco, and the Lower Valley.
Call Colonial today and see how easy it can be to have a beautiful landscape.
