Lawn Care Basics & Tips
Want a healthier, more enjoyable lawn? Discover some basic lawn care tips you can perform on your own.
Get to Know Your Soil
Soil provides nutrients and serves as a foundation for plants. Improving it increases plant health and is critical to growing a lawn or garden you’ll enjoy in your yard for a lifetime. Learn more about the state of your turf by performing a soil test.
A soil test determines soil pH levels, which elements are missing and how much to add to remedy the problem. Correcting pH will allow nutrients to be readily available to the plant.
Timing Is Everything
When it comes to lawn maintenance, it’s not just putting the right stuff down; you have to put it down at the right time. Be sure to do some research to determine your timing is correct. Temperature plays a key role in the spring in determining when to start with pre-emergent care. Be on the lookout for drought conditions. Fertilizing when your lawn is struggling under dry conditions can have extremely damaging effects.
Seed your Lawn at the Right Time
Just like with most lawn care, seeding at the proper time is vital to success. Research the growing season for grass in your area and plant seed to correlate with that timeframe. Learn more about seeding your lawn.
Choose The Right Fertilizer
Each lawn is different and requires unique care, so it’s important to use the right fertilizer. When trying to determine what type of fertilizer to use in your yard, you’ll want to be sure to understand the difference between slow and quick release nitrogen fertilizers.
Clear Out Weeds
DIY weed management hacks can be very labor-intensive. If you decide to do it alone, identify the kinds of weeds you have and begin with a product that addresses that particular issue. For example, undiluted white vinegar along with a tablespoon of dish soap works well on weeds like dandelions.
Properly Mow
There are many best practices for mowing your grass. You can do everything right, but if you get the mowing wrong, your yard won’t look good. Keep your blades sharp, follow all manufacturer recommendations, and wear protective gear.
Mow as often as is needed, and make sure you are mowing at the proper height for your type of grass. Cutting your grass too low can cause it to “burn” or turn yellow. Never remove more than ⅓ of the blade.
- Cool season grass height of cut range 2 – 4 inches
- Warm season grass height cut range 1.5 – 3 inches
Water your Lawns
When it comes to lawn care basics, watering your lawn can be a game-changer. You absolutely need to keep your lawn well hydrated.
- Water at the correct time of day and 6-8 inches deep.
- Time your sprinklers to see how long it takes to properly wet the soil.
- Calculate the total run time for all the sprinklers to run and program them to start in the early hours of the morning.
Let Your Lawn Breathe by Aerating
Aerating your lawn is one of the things you need to do to have a healthy, growing lawn. Aeration is needed due to thatch buildup and soil compaction. When compaction occurs, your grass cannot breathe or find much-needed nutrients due to the compaction “suffocating” your lawn’s roots.
So which provides a better value for core aeration: DIY or using Lawn Doctor’s professional lawn care services? As a homeowner, you’ll need to:
- Rent a machine
- Transport the core aeration machine to and from your property
- Determine whether conditions are favorable
- Ensure the safe and effective operation of the core aeration machine
When properly performed, under favorable conditions and at the appropriate time, core aeration will most assuredly benefit your lawn.
Keep The Right Amount of Thatch
It’s a myth that thatch is bad. A thin layer of thatch is actually good as long as it is ½” or less. Too much thatch can keep your lawn too moist, and trap fungus and bacterial disease in this layer. When you have too much thatch, it’s time to core aerate.
If you’re on the fence about maintaining your lawn yourself or working with a lawn care company to do it for you, take a look at what some of our satisfied customers have to say, and please give us a call. There’s no hard sell and no pressure. Just a free estimate and a promise that if you’re not 100% satisfied — we’ll make it right. It’s that simple.
