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How To Properly Take Care Of Your Lawn

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Mulch Your Garden Beds If Necessary

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If you have plants in the garden bed around your house, be sure to mulch them so they can get enough water and nutrients from the soil. Grass will often take up these nutrients before the plants get them, so mulching can help ensure that everything is growing properly! This will also help keep weeds from growing and killing your plants, so you will want to be sure that the mulch is thick enough.

Winter Lawn Care Tips

The extreme nature of winter means thereâs very little you can do on your lawn to save the grass from browning or even dying from the freezing ice. However, this doesnât mean you should ignore it completely. For example, you should continue doing regular maintenance work and taking care of grass in preparation for the upcoming and more favorable spring. The following are simple tricks you can try to keep your lawn healthy during winter.

Check For And Identify Problems

Check your lawn regularly, so that you can find pests and other problems early. Make sure to identify lawn problems correctly, then decide whether action is needed.

  • Plant damage may not be caused by pests. Plants can be injured by poor growing conditions, poor maintenance, road salt, or dog urine.
  • A few weeds or insect pests in healthy lawns is usually not cause for concern.
  • Knowing about the pest and its life cycle will help you decide if and when to take action, and how to prevent further problems. See Pest control tips for more information about controlling specific pests.

Also Check: What Is The Best Time To Aerate Your Lawn

Dealing With Bald Spots

The fall is an excellent time to lessen the bare spots on the lawn. The easiest way to do this is with using an all-in-one lawn repair mixture. You can buy it at most home centers, as well as at garden shops – it is a mixture of grass seeds and organic mulch. Scratch the soil at every bald spot and apply a thick layer of the mixture. Next, compact the mixture lightly and water it abundantly. For the next two weeks, water the lawn every two days.

Lawn Care During Drought

ProLawn Turf

In extreme heat conditions, with prolonged periods without precipitation, it is important to remember that your lawn is stressed. In this situation, it is best to let the grass become dormant.

Several types of grass survive in hot, dry weather, including Manila grass, Bermuda grass, St Augustine grass, Bison grass, Bahia grass, and Fescues. They become dormant in dry weather, no longer needing food or water. When the rain and cooler temperatures come back, your lawn will turn green and healthy.

Remember the following tips during a drought:

  • Do not apply herbicide, fertilizer.
  • Do not cut more than one-third of the grass height. When grass height is higher, it provides more shade on the ground, allowing your lawn to develop deeper roots.
  • Leave the cut grass on your lawn as mulch that maintains the moisture of your lawn.
  • In arid regions, where every drop of water is valuable, consider planting drought-tolerant grass species. Also, you can cover the lawn as much as possible with drought-tolerant plants.
  • Read Also: What Kills Mushrooms In Your Lawn

    Perfect Your Mowing Technique

    Invested in the best lawn mower? You’re off to a good start, but that’s only half of it: learning how to mow a lawn properly is also crucial.

    There are some key dos and don’ts to bear in mind when cutting the grass for the best results. For instance, David Hedges Gower, chairman of the Lawn Association , explains how ‘bad mowing cutting too short and cutting with blunt blades causes tremendous damage to lawns.’

    The solution? ‘Never cut more than one-third of the existing length, and sharpen your blade several times a year.’

    Not cutting too short is particularly important when doing your first mow of the season in spring. ‘Gradually reduce the grass length over a number of weeks to reach the desired length,’ says the lawn experts at Flymo . ‘Cutting the grass too short, too fast is known as “scalping” which can lead to disease and weed infestation.’

    How To Take Care Of Your Lawn Year Round

    Regular year-round lawn care and maintenance is essential for a green, healthy lawn. Without it, your grass can become overgrown and more susceptible to all types of lawn diseases and outdoor pests. Seasonal lawn care and maintenance requirements change as temperatures rise and fall, so its important to pay attention to the time of year for proper care. Heres a helpful guide on how to take care of your lawn year-round in Northern NJ.

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    Do Not Fertilize Too Early

    The best time for fertilizing is autumn this helps build turf given grass plants the food that they need to build up their root systems.

    However, many folks will also fertilize in the springtime. Do not make the mistake of fertilizing too early in the spring. This will divert the plants energy into leaf development too soon. Instead, the grass needs phosphorus for root development.

    The best time for the first spring application in most regions in late spring , just as the grass is beginning to grow green and you want to promote a lush, green lawn. Fertilize before the heat of summer begins and after the grass is growing nicely. A good feeding of 3/4 to 1 pound of fertilizer will allow the plant to rebuild its food supply.

    When you fertilize grass in the spring, apply lightly. Heavy nitrogen fertilization is not good for the grass and can also lead to disease problems. A healthy lawn is a light, bright green color if its darker, that means too much nitrogen . Remember that you can always start lightly and add more until you get the right color.

    Also, consider a mulching mowerwhich returns grass clippings back to the soil. This saves you time and energy, while also improving the condition of your lawn. Since grass clippings contain up to 90 percent water, the clippings dry up very quickly. Its almost as if the grass clippings disappear. Plus, this returns 25 percent of the nutrients to the soila fantastic fertilizer.

    Late Spring Early Summer: Measure The Right Amount Of Water

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    • Set a cake pan halfway between your sprinkler and the edge of the spray pattern.
    • Watch your clock to see how long it takes the sprinkler to fill the pan with 3/8 inches of water.
    • Water for that amount of time three times a week, unless it rains.
    • Increase from 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch when the daytime temperatures are above 80 degrees F.

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    Tip No : Use A Sharp Mower Blade

    A well-maintained, sharp and balanced blade cuts grass cleanly and evenly . A dull one tears grass instead of cutting it cleanly. Damaged grass turns yellow, requires more water and nutrients to recover, and is more susceptible to disease. An unbalanced blade compounds the problem and can damage your lawn mowers bearings. Sharpening and balancing a blade three times a year is usually enough to maintain a good cutting edge unless you hit lots of rocks. Heres how to sharpen a lawn mower blade.

    Family Handyman

    How Do You Maintain A Lawn

    Good lawn maintenance begins with establishing a schedule based on the climate where you live, the kind of grass you want to grow and how much time you have to put into it.

    Keep up with your lawn, and youll have an easier time keeping it looking good year-round.

    Most homeowners are able to take care of weekly mowing and watering, but many employ professional lawn care services like TruGreen to take care of the larger tasks like fertilizing and aeration.

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    Reseed Thin Areas Of The Lawn

    If some parts of your lawn look great and other areas are patchy, its time to do some reseeding. Lawn spots that are overgrown with weeds may also need reseeding. Start the reseeding process by killing all weeds with a powerful herbicide.

    Then, choose a hardy grass seed variety that thrives in your climate zone. Rake and aerate the soil to prepare it for seeding. Finally, spread the seed with your spreader, fertilize, and water every day until your grass grows to about two inches.

    Tip No : Adjust Your Cutting Height To The Time Of Year

    Lawn Mowing Heights for Buffalo Grass

    The best height to cut grass depends on the type of grass, the region and the time of year. For cool-climate grasses, use a 1-1/2 in. cutting height for the first mowing of the year to remove dead grass and allow more sunlight to reach the crowns of the grass plants. Raise the blade during the heat of summer to two inches or more. Then lower the blade back to 1-1/2 in. for the last cutting of the year. For warm-climate grasses, these heights will be about 1/2 in. lower.

    When adjusting your blade height, measure from a hard surface to the bottom of the mower deck, then add 1/4 in. Most blades sit 1/4 in. above the bottom of the deck.

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    Overseeding In The Fall

    Cold temperatures can make turf grasses brown. But if you overseed in the fall, this is avoidable. This season is the last growing period of the year, so overseeding is essential, even if you did it in the spring.

    The amount you overseed depends on the type of turfgrass you have in your yard. If your lawn is comprised of warm-season turfgrass, Virginia Tech provides a useful list. If your lawn has cool-season turfgrass, University of Massachusetts Amherst provides a useful list as well.

    During the overseeding process also, you may consider introducing more resilient grasses that can withstand the harsher climatic conditions of winter and summer. While at it, ensure that the seeds youâre spreading in the thin spots or bare patches get into good contact with the soil. Thereafter, water them until they germinate. The core goal is to ensure that the grasses are well established before winter comes.

    Customize Your Grass For Performance

    For new properties and areas where the lawn needs a complete overhaul, its possible to customize the type of grass for optimal performance. There are many different grass varieties that are popular for lawns. Some, like Bermuda grass and Kentucky bluegrass, dont require as much maintenance.

    Grass varieties also perform differently depending on your regions specific climate and rainfall amounts. Be sure to choose the right grass for your climate zone. A lawn professional can help you with customized recommendations for a new lawn.

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    Dont Forget Dethatching And Aerating

    Thatch is a pile of plant material located between the green top and the grass root and, if not dealt with, it can cause grass to wither and make room for weeds. If you notice a layer of thatch, dont let it grow bigger use a thatching rake, raking in only one direction.

    The lawn wont look attractive for at least a month, but the good thing is that youll have to repeat the process every two or three years.

    The process of aerating means perforating the soil so that water, air and valuable nutrients can make its way to grass roots. If the soil has too many solid particles, the roots wont get what they need to stay healthy, so heres how you aerate the lawn: water the lawn one day before, and make several passes over problematic areas with the aeration machine. Next, allow the excavated plugs to dry and then use a lawn mower to break them up.

    Renovate Or Replenish A Lawn

    How to maintain your lawn after installing fresh sod

    Sowing can be done in the spring, from March to May. Its also an excellent time to replenish a damaged lawn. To repair areas where the lawn is damaged, we use a re-grinding turf. It allows easy and quick replacement of surfaces where the earth appears.

    Renovation of the Lawn with Turf

  • First, you have to prepare the soil, scratching the soil slightly where you want to sow. You can easily do with hand claw or a rake. Remove the dead and surplus lawn.
  • If necessary, adjust the ground level and apply some peat moss
  • Sowing the seed
  • Water the renovated area thoroughly and keep it moist for the first 15 days.
  • Mow when your lawn reaches 7.5 cm for small areas.
  • Note: Average 65 to 100% of the water needs of a sustainable lawn are filled by natural precipitation. Lawns require only about 2.5 cm of water per week.

    The turf grows very fast. In a few weeks, the bare areas start to become green. Your lawn should look better! Let pass a few more weeks before mowing.

    This process can be done at any time of the season. If you think about additional watering, The ideal times is spring and autumn.

    In prolonged periods of drought, grass goes dormant and turns yellow but not dead they do not need extra watering. Once the precipitation returns, it will return to regular appearance.

    Resource: How To Renovating the Lawn

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    When To Water Your Lawn

    In Quebec, watering must be done during dry seasons in order to provide the humidity needed to maintain a nice green lawn. If there is a lack of rainfall during the growing season, the lawn will go dormant and turn brown unless it is watered frequently.

    It is important to observe your lawn carefully to recognize signs when it is short of water:

    • Footprints persist
    • The color of the grass takes on a blue-green tint
    • The blades of grass bend inwards
    • It stops growing

    If your lawn is new, devote an hour to watering each zone while respecting your local authority regulations. Watering in the morning or early morning is preferable since the evaporation rate is low. Some people prefer to water in the early evening, but this can help spread diseases.

    Dethatching In The Fall

    As we just mentioned, fall is the most crucial time to prepare your lawn for the upcoming colder temperatures. To boost grass growth, you should first remove thatch â the build-up that accumulates over your lawn. While you should dethatch in every season, fall generally produces the most thatch, usually small branches and fallen leaves. Excessive accumulation of these materials will eventually suffocate your lawn as they block vital sunlight rays and trap excessive moisture.

    The common dethatching tools you can use here are vertical mowers and power rakes. For larger lawns, vertical mowers work a lot better and are easier to use. To avoid ripping up your turf grass, set the blades high before your first run. Afterwards, you can always adjust accordingly. For smaller lawns, power rakes are an easier alternative. Youâll have more hand control when you remove material from your lawn.

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    Overseeding In The Spring

    Overseeding is the process of replenishing grass by scattering grass seeds over a lawn. Spring is a good time to overseed, particularly if youâre using turf grasses that are known to grow robustly in these conditions.

    However, there is a debate on whether overseeding for cool-season turfgrasses is effective or not during spring. New seeds for these kinds of grasses only tend to grow shallow roots since the higher temperatures in the following summer cause photorespiration. This is the process where a plant uses more energy than it manufactures. But if your lawn has warm-season turfgrasses, then overseeding is generally recommended around this time.

    Under normal circumstances, youâll only need to overseed twice a year unless your lawn suffered severe damage in winter.

    Scraping And Raking Of Lawn:

    How To Take Proper Care Of Your Lawn In Winter. Useful Advice And ...

    The lower part of an old lawn may get matted and woody along with the formation of a hard crust. For such lawn, the grass is scraped at the ground level with the help of a sickle in months of April and may. Buy sickle online in India.

    Scraping is followed by raking to break the crust. Where the condition of the lawn is good, hard and thorough raking is done both ways to loosen the old runners and to aerate the soil. Click here to buy garden rake online in India.

    You may like to read about 10 tips for raking leaves.

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    Top Tips For A Healthy Lawn

    A green and healthy lawn is easy to achieve with a bit of work. A little effort now will save you a lot of effort later, because healthy lawns are less vulnerable to pests, weeds, drought, and other problems.

    Follow these seven tips:

  • Mow high — Cut your grass to a height of 6 to 8 centimetres . This height will promote growth, prevent weeds, and discourage insect pests.
  • Water deeply — Water your lawn deeply to promote the growth of deep roots. Apply about 2.5 centimetres of water, only when needed . Place a small pet food or tuna can on the lawn to help you measure how much water has been applied. Stop watering when the can is full. Too much water starves the soil of oxygen and invites disease.
  • Feed — Feed your lawn with compost. Let grass clippings stay on your lawn to provide nutrients.
  • Aerate — Aerate compacted soil, ideally in the fall. This helps water, air, and nutrients reach plant roots more easily.
  • Overseed — Sow new seed over thinned areas, or choose other ground covers for tough spots.
  • Replace — Replace grass with paving stones or mulch in heavy traffic areas.
  • Check — Check your lawn often to detect pests and other problems early.
  • How To Properly Take Care Of Your Lawn Guide

    29 Sep 2021

    Having a lush, green lawn is the goal of many homeowners. But how do you get there? There are many steps to take care of your lawn, and it will be different for everyone depending on where they live and what type of grass or other vegetation they have. This blog post will go over some tips that will help you maintain a healthy lawn so that your yard can look as beautiful as possible!

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