Curb appeal is important for homeowners who want to sell their homes in a hurry as well as for those who just want real estate that looks good enough to list. According to leading realtors, maintaining a lush, healthy lawn is a top way to increase curb appeal. However, a vibrant lawn doesn’t happen by accident. You or your chosen lawn care professional will need to put a series of lawn care practices in play to achieve your dream yard. This beginner’s guide to lawn care will tell you what you need to know to get started.
What is Lawn Care?
When doing research on lawn establishment and maintenance, you can easily get confused by all the products and yard gadgets that are on the market. If you need to build your lawn, you’ll want to decide among grass seed, sod, sprigs, and plugs. You’ll also see many fertilizer brands for lawn upkeep. What about those cool lawn aerator sandals that you saw on Amazon? You’re certain that you’ll need those.
Before you get carried away, you’ll need to know that lawn care isn’t just about using certain products on your yard. Effective turf care involves preparing your soil to support healthy grass and nurturing that grass from its roots to its blades. For new lawns, you’ll want to clear the ground of rocks, debris, and weeds. If your ground is too compact to receive water and nutrients properly, you’ll need to aerate it. This is also the perfect time to get a soil test, which lets you know about soil deficiencies before you lay down expensive seeds or sod. Apply these turf care techniques to your yard at the times of year that fit your grass variety and format.
Responsible homeowners want lawns that look great and exist in harmony with their surrounding natural landscapes. Your region’s ecosystem will impact your choice of turf, shrubs, and the products that you choose to use on your yard. While harsh chemical fertilizers and pesticides give lawns a bad reputation, yards that are established and maintained with organic products help the environment. According to some surprising statistics that the Lawn Institute published, a lawn that measures 50 feet by 50 feet supplies enough oxygen for four people on average. It also helps to clean the air by removing carbon dioxide, ozone, and hydrogen fluoride from the atmosphere. When you properly apply organic turf care methods and products, you get a beautiful lawn that boosts your family’s quality of life, increases property value, and doesn’t harm the earth’s natural resources.
Depending on your location, you may have other requirements to consider. For instance, many homeowners live in drought-prone areas that are under water restrictions. In this case, you’ll want to build an attractive lawn that uses less water than the average yard.
Consider these five drought-tolerant turf varieties for a green lawn without all the watering:
– Bluestem Enviro-Turf
– Pearl’s Premium
– UC Verde Buffalo Grass
– Fleur de Lawn
– Eco-Lawn
Grass Types and Why They Matter
Grass types are generally categorized as warm-season and cool-season turfgrass. Warm season grasses experience ideal growth within a temperature range of 80 to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and cool season grasses grow best within the 60 to 75-degree Fahrenheit temperature range. Here are some examples of warm and cool-season grasses.
Warm-Season Grasses
– Bermuda
– St. Augustine
– Zoysia
Cool-Season Grasses
– Kentucky Bluegrass
– Tall Fescue
– Perennial Ryegrass
You need to choose your grass type carefully to make sure that you give your lawn an adequate growing season. In the United States, warm-season grasses grow best in the nation’s southwest and southeast regions from May to September. Cool-season grasses do well in the West, Midwest, and Northeast during the spring months of April and May and the autumn months of September and October. A Pennsylvania State University turf expert said that planting types of grass that don’t fit your regional profile or your site’s condition leads to lawn deterioration later.
Spring Lawn Care
If you have an established lawn, you’ll need to take a few turf care steps to make sure that it’s ready to shine once warmer weather hits your region. Watering, seeding, and managing weeds and pests are the main yard duties that should be on your mid-March to-do list.
Overseeding
Your lawn may lose some of its grass during the cold winter months, which is the time when many turf varieties go dormant. To avoid a patchy lawn, apply high-quality seed to your yard in early spring. The way that you spread the seeds on your lawn matters. You’ll want to use a disk seeder to put the seeds directly on the soil. The disk seeder gives the new grass seeds the best chance for germination. This process is called overseeding, and it results in deep grass roots for warm-season grasses when done during early spring. Late spring is the main time to overseed cool-season grasses.
Weed Control
Seeding your lawn during spring is a great first step to controlling weeds. A thick carpet of healthy grass leaves little room for weeds to grow. Lawns that are not in the best shape become incubators for crabgrass seeds that were left in the yard from the previous season. These seeds germinate when area temperatures reach 60 degrees Fahrenheit or above for several days. They thrive in lawns that are thin, nutrient deficient, and plagued by pests.
If you’re not able to thicken your lawn through overseeding before its crabgrass seeds germinate, you’ll need to use a pre-emergent herbicide to stop the crabgrass from becoming established. While chemical herbicides are still used by homeowners for this chore, organic lawn care is growing in popularity. According to experts at the University of Connecticut’s Home and Garden Education Center, corn gluten meal effectively disrupts root development in crabgrass. Corn gluten meal is a non-toxic by-product of factory corn milling. If your lawn has a heavy crabgrass infestation, apply a follow-up application of the herbicide.
Watering
While your first instinct is to water your lawn to bring it back to life after a cold winter, you need to limit the amount of water that your lawn gets during the spring. Giving your grass too much water inhibits the growth of deep roots that are needed for a healthy lawn. When grass is thin due to over watering, weeds thrive. Too much water also creates a supportive environment for insects during this season. If your region receives little rain, keep watering sessions to less than an inch per week during the spring.
Pest Management
Brown or yellow patches of grass are often indicators of pest issues. Some common lawn pests include Japanese beetles, chinch bugs, and mole crickets. These insects are attracted to moist soil, and they are another reason to limit lawn watering during the spring. Horticulture expert Chris Enroth at the University of Illinois says that the best pest management practices involve good plant upkeep. Professor Enroth mentioned that applying chemical pesticides should be a solution of last resort.
Summer Lawn Care
The sound of the lawn mower and the scent of freshly cut grass are unmistakable signs of summer for most people. Now that you’re an adult, those fond childhood memories take on new meaning. During the warmer months, you’ll need to do these three lawn maintenance chores to keep a nice-looking yard: mowing, watering, and weeding.
Mowing
The trick for effective mowing during summer is avoiding cutting your grass too short. Professor Richard Jauron of Iowa State University suggested setting your mower’s blades to cut grass to a height of 3 inches. For cool-season grasses, lower the height as temperatures decrease. These practices help your grass to develop deeper root systems.
Watering
Summer is the time to give your lawn plenty of water, which supports healthy root systems. While newer lawns need more water until they become established, the amount of water that your lawn needs mostly depends on your soil type. For instance, sandy soils need about an inch of water per foot, and clay soils require up to 3 inches of water per foot on average. Watering your lawn during the early morning hours gives it time to soak up the water before the sun evaporates it. Avoid watering your lawn during the evenings. Water left on your grass overnight promotes the growth of disease-causing fungus.
Weed Control
Summer brings the ideal conditions for the rapid growth of weeds. Give your grass a fighting chance by pulling up weeds by their roots.
Fall Lawn Care
As temperatures in your region cool down, it’s time for your turf care routine to sizzle. Knowledgeable homeowners build up deteriorating lawns and maintain vibrant ones during autumn. They do these six activities before winter: mowing, thatch removal, aeration, fertilization, weed control, and seeding.
Mowing
If you use the right techniques, mowing your lawn is an effective way to encourage thick, vigorous grass growth. However, aggressive mowing that shaves more than a third of the total leaf surface from grass blades harms root systems according to industry experts. They recommend mowing your lawn to a height of 3 inches for warm-season grasses. Cool-season grasses grow quickly during mild fall temperatures, and horticulture professor Richard Jauron suggests keeping cool-season lawns cut to 2.5 inches.
Thatch Removal
Thatch is the layer of dead and living plant matter that accumulates on your soil’s surface and among growing blades of grass over time. Vigorously rake your lawn to dislodge and discard thatch. Thatch removal helps water and fertilizer reach your lawn’s soil easier, and it encourages the healthy growth of new grass when you overseed your lawn. Timing for thatch removal is important. You should remove thatch about a month before frosty weather arrives in your region to make sure that your lawn recovers before it goes dormant during winter.
Aeration
Heavy foot traffic and pounding rains can compact your lawn’s soil. Loosen this soil by aerating it to prepare it for fertilization, weed control, and new seeds. You want to use aeration tools that remove plugs of earth from your lawn and not just pierce its surface with spikes.
Fertilization
Fertilizing your lawn in the fall allows you to extend its life and color. After de-thatching, aerating, and watering your lawn, apply a pound of nitrogen-based fertilizer per every 1,000 square feet of space.
Weed Control
If roasted dandelion root is not your cup of tea, then you’ll want to apply an organic herbicide to your lawn that’s effective against broadleaf weeds. Since many weeds such dandelion and plantain survive winter’s harsh temperatures and come to life with your grass during spring, apply your herbicide solution before your lawn goes dormant.
Overseeding
Seeding is a great way to restore a thin or patchy lawn to good health. It’s also one of the main ways to turn a brown lawn into a green one when temperatures fall.
Winter Lawn Care
While winter is the time to give your lawn mower a break, lawn maintenance continues. These three lawn care tips will help you to get the best-looking lawn when the weather warms up next spring.
Top Dressing
After you’ve de-thatched and aerated your lawn during the fall, consider applying top dressing to it during early winter. Top dressing is made of compost or topsoil that protects your lawn during the colder months. Adding this organic material to your lawn before the ground freezes builds up the soil and encourages healthier grass growth when spring arrives.
Weeding
Weeds that grow with cool-season grasses are hardy. If you didn’t do adequate weed control during the fall, you may still see these weeds growing in your lawn throughout winter. Periodically hand pull weeds. Also, consider applying an organic herbicide to your lawn before the ground freezes.
Overseeding
Lawn maintenance experts advocate for overseeding warm-season grasses in fall and cool-season grasses in late spring. However, you can also overseed your lawn in winter before the ground freezes. If you live in a region that’s blessed with mild winters, feel free to overseed your lawn throughout the winter. Overseeding will help to crowd out weeds in your lawn and give it a lush, thick look during its growing season.
Lawn Mowing Tips and Techniques
Proper mowing is essential to getting a lush lawn and optimal curb appeal. Besides knowing how short to cut your grass, you’ll need to understand the right techniques to trim your specific outdoor space. If your ground is uneven, you run the risk of cutting some parts of your lawn too short. While getting your lawn professionally graded to make it even is ideal, you can adjust the height of your mower’s deck to compensate for height differences throughout your lawn.
During peak growing seasons, you’ll likely mow your grass once per week. Alternate your mowing pattern each week to encourage your grass to grow upright. Changing your mowing pattern also prevents you from developing ruts in your lawn during frequent mowing.
Your choice of mower should reflect your lawn’s size and configuration. It’s also important to keep mower blades sharp. Cutting grass with dull mower blades results in damaged grass blades that fall prey to fungal diseases and certain pests.
Watering Your Lawn Properly
According to statistics that were published by the Lawn Institute, grass is about 80 percent water by weight. When your lawn doesn’t have enough water, you’ll see grass blades that are wilted, curled, or discolored. Properly hydrated grass also bounces back quickly after you step on it.
Before watering your lawn, you’ll want to prepare the ground to receive the water. These lawn preparation activities include removing debris, aerating, and de-thatching your yard. Getting on a watering schedule is helpful when you need a consistent amount of water for your lawn during peak growing times. You’ll need to water overseeded lawns more often than normal until they become established.
Using the right tools and equipment to water your lawn makes the chore easier for you. An established lawn usually needs about an inch of water per week to stay healthy. Invest in a rain gauge to make sure that you don’t over water your lawn. A sprinkler will help you to cover your lawn evenly with water, and you can adjust its water pressure to make sure that water soaks into the soil slowly.
DIY Versus Hiring a Professional Lawn Care Service
While do-it-yourself turf care can be very satisfying, there are some big advantages to hiring a professional. Today’s lawn specialists are trained to accurately assess your lawn’s condition and quickly present you with effective solutions that fit your lifestyle. They keep up with industry trends to produce lawns that are both beautiful and low maintenance. Whether you require a full set of lawn services to resurrect a dead yard or you just need seasonal maintenance to keep your lawn looking great, professional technicians have the knowledge, skills, and equipment to get the results that you want.