lawn-care

Simple Lawn Care Advice

Lawn care is a task that most homeowners must deal with, but similarly, many people don't understand the basics of caring for a lawn, and thus deal with stunted, weed-ridden lawns. If you find yourself envying your neighbor's beautiful lawn, you need to learn some of the tricks that will help you to have a beautiful lawn yourself. A little lawn care advice will help you identify some of the mistakes you might be making when you work on your lawn.

Watering

Your lawn needs water to thrive, but if you don't follow simple lawn care advice and water properly, your watering will be ineffective and wasteful. Water in the early morning, when the sun won't evaporate the water right away, and water enough to saturate the soil. Do not water on a regular pattern, but wait until your lawn has almost dried out again before repeating the watering.

The reasoning behind this bit of lawn care advice is to mimic the natural pattern of watering that comes from rain, large bursts followed by periods with no moisture. If you do this, then the roots of your lawn will grow deep and strong.

Mowing

Sound lawn care advice for mowing is to clip your grass so that it's near the upper portions of its recommended height range (your local garden shop can help you determine this for your variety). The reasoning behind this bit of lawn care advice is that by growing your grass a little longer, you increase the amount of area exposed for photosynthesis, which means better growth, and it also helps the grass to choke out new weeds.

Taking proper care of your mower is also good lawn care advice. Make sure that your mower blades are sharp; a sharp blade will cut cleanly and prevent damage to your grass, which will also inhibit growth. Take your blades to be sharpened by a professional each year.

Thatch Control

Thatch is the material that comes from dead grass and other materials laying on the ground and inhibiting growth rather than decomposing. Good lawn care advice means recommending that you do your best to fight thatch. This is more a project to be handled yearly rather than week by week. Cutting grass at the recommended height for your type of grass will help reduce thatch, as will aeration of your lawn in the spring and fall. By following this and other good lawn care advice, you'll be able to have a lush lawn that you can be proud of.