Although fall is just around the corner, it doesn’t mean that we can’t think ahead for next summer and start planning our lawn practices now! Are you tired of always looking around your neighborhood and it seems that everyone else has a healthier, greener looking lawn than yours? Well fear no more! Follow these simple, cost effective tips, and come next summer, you will have the lawn of your dreams!
Follow these 7 Tips for a Healthy, Thick & Green Lawn:
1. Water Less: Believe it or not, one trick to a healthier looking lawn is to water your grass less. The optimal amount is to water once or twice a week, not every day. This actually forces the grass roots to grow deeper as they search for more water. The best time of the week to choose to water is when the grass is showing slight signs of wilt.
2. Use Mulch as Fertilizer: After you have mowed your lawn, don’t throw out your clippings! Use the excess grass to help fertilize your lawn. Grass clippings, in fact, feed your lawn with extra nutrients and a season’s worth of clippings is roughly around 2 pounds of nitrogen.
3. Rise & Shine: The best time of the day to water your grass is as the sun rises – roughly around 5:00am. This allows for your lawn to absorb the most water possible, as the sun is not around yet to evaporate it. In order to do this, without having to get up extra early, is to buy an electric hose timer and set it for the appropriate hour!
4. Aeration: Aerate your lawn once a year, usually in the spring or fall, to allow more oxygen into the ground in order to give your grass better access to water and the nutrients that it needs. You can rent a core aerating machine at almost any hardware store, and although it may be a days’ worth of work, it is well worth the time and will make a huge difference in the look and feel of your lawn!
5. Do the Math with Fertilizer: In order to avoid burning your lawn with too much fertilizer, or wasting your time with not enough, it’s important to do the math properly. Calculate your lawn’s area using a pre-measured length of rope and figure out how much fertilizer you will need, based on the amount that each bag covers. Usually each bag contains enough fertilizer for at least 500 square meters.
6. Set your Mower Blade High: Let your grass grow thick and long to ensure that the roots breed deep and strong. The deeper the roots, the easier the access to the nutrients and water. You can keep your grass still looking sharp and clean, by raising the blade on your lawn mower to 6-7.5 centimeters.
7. Fix the Bare Spots on your Lawn: Patching the bare spots on your lawn will keep the overall look of your lawn fresh and green. In order to achieve this effectively, use compost in your seed mix so that it will absorb sunlight and speed up the warmth of the ground for faster germination. You can always prep the ground beforehand but loosening the soil with a rake before putting down your seed mix. Ensure to water weekly until the patch is full.
Follow these simple tips, and watch as your grass grows thicker, faster and greener next summer!
