Your lawn is among the first things friends, neighbors and passersby notice when looking at your home. While your approach to lawn care isn’t necessarily indicative of your approach to homeownership in general, a poorly kept lawn is liable to give off the impression that you’re unconcerned with the appearance of your home. Fortunately, keeping your lawn healthy for the long haul doesn’t have to be a difficult or time-consuming endeavor. Homeowners looking to keep their lawns vibrant and bring out their natural beauty will be well-served by the following pointers.
Stick to the Ideal Mowing Length
A sizable percentage of lawns are habitually over-mowed. In an effort to keep their grass as short as possible, many people keep their mowers set to the lowest length. While it’s easy to see why so many homeowners have adopted this approach to mowing, it’s seldom beneficial to the health of a lawn. The shorter the grass blades, the less equipped a lawn is to soak up and retain water and assorted nutrients. If you’ve ever wondered why the perpetually short grass found on golf courses requires near-constant watering, you now have your answer.
While it may mean mowing more often than you’d like, your grass should be kept at its ideal length. Since this length varies by grass type, take care to ascertain the type of grass that makes up your lawn and look up its recommended length. Your lawn’s long-term health and resiliency should be well worth any additional mowing you endure.
Provide Regular Fertilization
Fertilizing your lawn on a regular basis is an effective way to provide it with valuable sustenance and encourage health growth year-round. Keep in mind that how often you fertilize is dependent upon the type of grass that makes up your lawn. Since many types of grass only need to be fertilized once a year, this chore won’t be a consistent drain on your free time. If you’re unclear on what type of fertilizer your grass requires, consult your preferred search engine or pay a visit to your local home and garden center.
If fertilization seems like too big a chore for you to undertake alone, search for lawn fertilizer companies in your area. The right company will be able to identify the ideal type of fertilizer for your lawn and recommend an appropriate fertilization schedule. You may be surprised by how big an effect a custom lawn fertilization plan can have on your grass.
Abstain from Overwatering
Overwatering is just as big a problem as over-mowing. Despite having the best of intentions for their lawns, many homeowners don’t seem to realize that there’s such a thing as too much water. In addition to wasting water, overwatering can have an adverse impact on your grass’s wellbeing. The more water your lawn receives, the more dependent it will become on large amounts of water. So if your grass regularly receives more water than it requires, it will be ill-equipped to withstand dry conditions.
Many lawn care experts recommended watering deeply and infrequently instead of giving your lawn water every day. Most lawns require between 1” and 1 ½” of water per week, and this amount should be spread across two or three watering sessions. Additionally, if you live in an area that regularly receives heavy rainfall, you may not need to water at all.
If you lack the time or inclination to manually water your grass, consider installing an automatic sprinkler system. If properly calibrated, a good sprinkler system can ensure that the right amount of water is evenly distributed across your entire lawn. Just make sure to periodically watch the system in action, as this will enable you to nip any timing or distribution issues in the bud.
Keeping one’s lawn in prime condition may strike many homeowners as a difficult undertaking. While numerous steps are required to help a lawn maintain its health, none of them are particularly costly, difficult or draining on one’s time. A little bit of commitment and hard work can go a long way in the quest for a perpetually healthy lawn, so if you’re not opposed to spending some time in the yard, there’s no time like the present to put the previously discussed tips to good use.
