Is your lawn embarrassing? Full of dead spots, weeds, and a pale shade of yellow-green?
Whether you want a golf course fairway quality lawn or you just want to be able to look your neighbors in the eye, we’ve got some expert tips to turn even the ugliest lawn into a spectacle of beauty.
First, let us start off by saying that lawn care is actually more complicated than most people think. In fact, that may be why you’re here in the first place.
You may have tried your best or even hired another lawn care company, and just can’t get make the progress you’re looking for. In any case, we’ve got a systematic approach that should bring you success.
Lawns don’t turn ugly overnight and they don’t beautify that way either. It takes time and some effort from both you and any lawn care company that you may use.
Follow these tips and you’ll be on your way.
While you may be tempted to oversimplify and say you have weeds and no grass, the cause of those symptoms are important and will direct your strategy.
Do some research and properly identify what kind of weeds or insects you’re dealing with. If there is thinning turf, determine if it’s a result of shade, drought, disease, soil issues, or excessive shade.
If you can’t figure it out, a knowledgeable pro should be able to help.
After you have properly identified the issues, then you can look for effective solutions.
Weed or insect controls are often specific to target the kind of weeds or pest you have. Depending upon what other problem you may be facing, there may be both lawn care treatments and other cultural practices that could help fix your problem as well.
Try to get all the bad stuff out of your lawn as quickly as you can by taking the recommended steps.
Your lawn is only going to be good as the soil it’s growing in. Yet, this is a widely neglected part of getting a great lawn.
Start off by obtaining a soil test kit or get a local lawn care service to perform one for you. The resulting report will determine what your soil pH is, as well as look for certain nutrient deficiencies.
Those issues can be remedied with treatments of limestone and specialized fertilizers.
Make sure your lawn is growing in nutrient rich soil, teeming with beneficial microorganisms. In order to improve the soil on an ongoing basis, fertilize your lawn 5-6 times a year with a blend that also contains bio-nutrients your lawn needs.
Since many soils tend to have a lot of clay particles, it gets compacted easily. This isn’t ideal for growing a great lawn.
However, core aerating your lawn each fall is a great way to help relieve soil compaction and will allow your grass plants to grow a deeper, more resilient root system.
Even when following the steps above, your lawn may have some weak spots that won’t fill in. Overseeding during the time of core aeration in the fall is a great way to get more grass growing in these spots weakened by insects, disease, weeds, or drought.
Even if your lawn doesn’t look like it needs overseeding, it’s still a good practice to perform on a regular basis.
Introducing new and improved turfgrasses can not only help your lawn to look its best, but it will help it to be more resilient against these stresses.
If you get any type of seeding done, it’s imperative that you water your new grass plants until they become established several months later. But even mature grass needs water from time to time in our area.
If lawns do not receive 1”-2” of water per week, they will lose color, thin, and even have areas that don’t recover. Weeds, however, need little water to survive. They will quickly invade thinning, dry turf areas.
Keeping your lawn watered is an important measure that people often assume isn’t needed.
Like we said, lawns don’t often turn ugly overnight and most of the issues that make lawns lose color and thickness are more easily maintained with preventative measures throughout the year.
Incorporating a lawn care program that performs these tasks from early spring to late fall is one of the best things you can do to keep your lawn in the condition you worked so hard to get it to.
In order to have a thick, green lawn, it’s important to understand how mowing impacts grass health.
Make sure you are mowing frequently enough to only remove ⅓ of the grass blade at any time. This could mean mowing more frequently than once a week when rainfall is really making your grass grow. Be sure the cut grass blades are 3-3 ½” long.
Any shorter will actually contribute to weed growth and your lawn being stressed by heat.
You may be able to handle the mowing and watering, but some of these other tasks may be something you don’t feel you have the expertise or even time to perform.
This leads a lot of homeowners to seek the help of a local lawn care company.
Be diligent in researching your choices for local pros as companies, their approaches, and the expertise of their teams can vary significantly. Read online reviews, compare programs fairly, and ask them tough questions.
That’s what it takes to make sure you get a lawn care provider that is going to be able to thicken and green-up your lawn like you’re hoping.
With the right care for your lawn, you’ll gain valuable peace of mind. If you’re interested in having your lawn inspected and its health assured, contact us for a free quote or give us a call at 833-JTE-TREE.