How To Care For Your Lawn

Do you want to flaunt a lawn that is green, lustrous and bright? If yes, then be ready to invest some time, a little care, occasional feeding and grooming and dollops of patience. A lustrous lawn makes a yard look good and adds to the overall aesthetic beauty of your house as well. However, it is very important to take good care of your lawn. Remember, grass is a tenacious weed that needs little help to be healthy. Go for natural ways instead of chemicals, as the latter unnecessarily weaken the lawn. Rich feeding, proper cutting and sufficient watering are a boon for the lawn and go a long way in ensuring marvelously well-kept lawns. In the following lines, we have provided some basic tips on how to care for your lawn.

The first essential thing you need to keep in mind, before caring for your lawn, is to plant the right kind of grass. If you reside in the North Zone, go for 'cool season' grass. It would ensure you a green winter, but a brown and dormant spell in the hot and dry, late summer. Ideally, for those in South Zone, 'warm season' grass is the best bet. Such type of grass would be green over the summer, changing to brown and dormant during a cold snap. For those in Transition Zone, a combination of 'cool season' and 'warm season' grass is likely to be the ideal choice.

While 'cool season' grass should be sown in the fall-August by those in far North, 15-30^th August is the ideal time for more moderate Northern climatic areas. As for 'warm season' grasses, they should be sown in the spring, as soon as the soil is warm enough to germinate the seed. However, in case you do not want to wait for the ideal time, laying sod instead is a better deal.

Talking about 'cool season' grass, it should get the biggest feeding in the fall. For this, applying an inch of compost on to the surface and raking it would be the best struck deal. It would not only serve as the perfect food for the grass, but also improve the structure of the soil below. 'Cool season' grass would again have to be fed in the spring. 10 to 20 pounds of corn gluten meal per thousand square feet of turf would prevent dormant weed seeds-like crabgrass from germinating and provide a natural feeding. However, 'warm season' grass needs three equal feedings in a year, in the months of June, July and August. For such type of grass, an inch of compost or 10 pounds of corn gluten is ideal for each feeding.

 

During summers, 'cool season' grass should be cut in such a way that three inches height is left. For instance, the legendary Kentucky bluegrass needs to be cut at two to three inches high, while shade-loving fescues are best at three to three and a half inches high. 'Warm season' grass flourishes best when it is cut about two inches high. For instance, both St. Augustine and Bermuda grass are best at two inches of height. Make sure you replace your mower blade every season, as it would ensure a cleaner cut. Remember, don't remove more than one third of the lawn's height, in one mowing.

The best feature about mulching mower is that it gives out no discharge at all. As such, the sealed decks and ultra-sharp blades cut and re-cut the clippings, until they are returned to the lawn, as a fine pulverized powder. Since the clips are rich in grass-feeding nitrogen, they provide the food to the grass as well.

Though this might sound funny, there is an art to watering the lawn as well. Watering lawn during the scorching mid-day heat or sultry evenings is a taboo. You may now be wondering when to water a lawn? The answer is - early morning. However, do not water in spurts. Instead, ensure deep soaking when you water to encourage deep roots. In the North Zone, watering is best timed when you have gone a week without an inch of rain. In the Southern Zone, the lawn would require two inches of water every week.