Caring for Your Lawn - More Than Just Mowing
If you want a lush, green lawn that will add beauty to your landscaping, there are a few things you should do besides mow it. Properly mowing your lawn is an important part of caring for it, but you should also properly aerate, water, and fertilize your lawn for optimal results.
Aerating your lawn will reduce the compaction of the soil. This is important because compact soil makes it hard for air and water to circulate, two things that a healthy lawn needs. Many homeowners, especially those with a large lawn, leave aeration to professionals. Aerating your lawn is not particularly hard, but it is very time consuming if you do it manually. You can save a lot of time if you buy or rent a coring machine. You can also get shoes with special spikes that will aerate the soil as you walk. No matter which method you use to aerate your lawn, it is an important part of lawn care and yard maintenance. You should only have to aerate your lawn once a year unless your soil has a high clay content and becomes compacted easily. A good way to tell if your soil needs to be aerated is to take a screwdriver and try to stick it into the ground. If it is hard to push in, then your lawn probably needs to be aerated. In northern climates, you should aerate in the fall while, in southern climates, you should aerate in the spring.
Your lawn also needs proper hydration to be healthy. Few climates get enough rain to maintain a healthy lawn without assistance. Most lawns need one to two inches of rain a week to remain at peak health. Too much water can be just as dangerous to your lawn and landscaping ideas as not enough water, so make sure you do not over do it. It is best to water you lawn slowly so that it can absorb water deeply. By deeply watering your lawn, the roots will get a chance to grow further into the soil and your lawn will be stronger. This will help protect your lawn form drought and periods of intense heat. Because every type of grass is different, make sure you know the water requirements of your lawn.
In most cases, lawns are unable to get all the nutrients they need to thrive from soil alone. This makes fertilization an important part of caring for your lawn. Fertilization is important because it promotes new root and leaf growth, it helps your lawn recover from traffic and other damage, it helps to control weeds, and it replaces the nutrients naturally lost from the soil. As with watering, your lawns fertilization needs will vary with the type of grass your lawn consists of. You should determine if your grass is cool season grass or warm season grass. If you live far north or south, your grass type will be obvious. If you live somewhere in the middle of the country, you will probably have to do some research to determine your grass type. Cool season grass should be fertilized in the fall and warm season grass should be fertilized in the spring. No matter which type of grass you have, make sure you fertilize when the ground is moist.
Every lawn has the potential to grow, thrive, and become a beautiful addition to a home. All it takes is a little extra care and maintenance and you too can have a lawn to be proud of.
Tags: caring for your lawn | lawn maintenance | lawn maintenance | home improvement | home improvement | growing a lawn | growing a lawn | fertilizing | fertilizing | fertilizer | fertilizer | lawn care | lawn care | watering | aerating | aerating | lawn
May 7th, 2008 at 6:40 am
Thanks for the information about the aerating…I never considered that before. The aerating shoes might make for a good workout at the same time….