Most all Lawn Care items fall into one of the following categories. From Establishment to Mowing or Watering. We will follow the example of a new lawn being established and cared for over the course of a season and list the things that may need to be done. We can't cover every single item that there is possible to be done to a lawn here for lack of time and space, however, if you don't find it here you can call and ask us your particular question. Let's start with establishing your grass.
Your grass
can be established a variety of ways. The method you choose will be
determined by the situation your lawn is in. Do you have a new
construction? An existing lawn that is thin and rough? A fair lawn that
is just a little thin? Depending on what condition your lawn is in will
determine where to start. Let's say you have a lawn that is in fair
condition but needs thickened up. An easy way to do this is to aerate
and overseed. An aerator is a machine that will poke a hole in the
ground (thousands of them actually) and remove a core of soil and leave
it laying on the surface. These are called core aerators. Some aerators
will simply push a spike into the ground creating a hole, this type is
not as good. To start with, mow your grass as low as you can safely,
don't throw rocks and dig dirt with the mower, but get it down to about
2" high.
This will stunt the grass and slow it's growth allowing the new grass
that you will seed to get started with limited competition from the
existing grass. After mowing take an aerator, rent one, buy one or
borrow one, and go over the entire lawn at least twice. Depending on
the model you use, the aerator will poke holes every 2 to 8 inches
apart. I like to be able to look down at the lawn at any point and not
see spots that don't have holes larger than 6". If you have a spot
larger than 6" without holes in it, you won't have very much grass come
up in that spot, so go over the lawn as many times as it takes to be
sure you have holes everywhere. Once your done aerating, spread your
seed. The amount of seed you use is important. If you don't use enough
you won't get the desired results. Professionally, we use 350# per acre
for lawns. Divided out per thousand square feet that is 8# per thousand
square feet. This brings up an important point, measure the square
footage of your lawn accurately and write it down. Every thing you do
in lawn care will ask for how large the lawn is. Spread the seed with a
spreader of any type, do not use your hand and just throw it around,
you won't get even coverage. Spread the seed using half of the required
amount spreading it in one direction, use the other half spreading the
opposite direction creating a cross hatch pattern on the lawn. This way
you are assured of getting even coverage. After spreading the seed take
a drag of any type, a piece of chain link fence, a board with a rope
tied to it, or what ever you can drag behind your mower. Drag the lawn,
this will push and drag seed into the holes you created and break up
the little plugs of soil that the aerator left on the ground, it will
cover up most of the seed giving much better germination and a thicker
lawn. After dragging, spread a starter fertilizer, this can be done
first if you want, it really doesn't matter. A starter fertilizer has a
higher middle number than first and last numbers. (More Phosphate) For
complete explanation on what the numbers mean on fertilizer bags, how
they affect grass and what micro-nutrients grass also needs, refer to
our Lawn Care Manual. You will need to put down 8 pounds per thousand
square feet of a 6-12-12 or 4 pounds per K of a 6-24-24. This will give
the ground the nutrients needed to germinate and start a turf lawn,
thus the name "starter fertilizer". After about a month the new grass
will start to yellow off some or maybe turn pale green, this is showing
you that it is time to fertilize again. Apply 6# per K of 15-15-15 this
will provide the nitrogen for green and growth and phosphate and potash
for root growth and overall vigor. After the grass is about 3 weeks old
you should be able to start mowing. CUT IT HIGH!!! Refer to the section
on mowing for more. Fertilizing will also need to be done on a regular
schedule. Refer to Fertilizing for a complete schedule. If you have a
new home and this is the first lawn a few things are different. Mainly
you will have to do clean up and get the proper grade before working on
seeding. Once this is done you will have to till up the ground to make
a soft seed bed. After tilling fertilize, and seed just as described
above using the same amount of seed. After this you will have to cover
the entire lawn with straw. Shake out straw to cover approximately 50%
of the soil from view. After done you should be able to look down and
still see about half of the soil showing through the straw, no more.
This equates to about 100 bales per acre. After your done strawing it's
time to start watering. Soak the lawn until runoff the first watering,
followed by daily waterings of sufficient length to keep the soil wet.
If it dries out, the seed won't germinate.
Fertilizing the grass does more than just make it green. Of course it will make it grow too, but lot's of things happen when you fertilize. Going back to our establishment, fertilizer makes the seed germinate faster, and get started out of the ground. After the grass has a good start fertilizer will make the grass get thicker send off Rhizomes, Stolons or Tillers all making the grass thicker and healthier. What most people want to know is how much and when. Simply put, most grasses will benefit from four applications of fertilizer per year. Spread out 60 days apart starting in early spring approximately 30 days before the growing season starts in your area, continuing through the growing season until fall. Spring fertilizing gets the grass off to a fast start giving you that rich green color everyone wants. A word of warning though, don't use too much fertilizer, follow the listed guidelines on the bag, or these generic instructions. Too much fertilizer will cause excess growth, lead to Fungus growth and weaken the grass.
Controlling weeds in a new or existing lawn is vital to the health and overall appearance of the lawn. A beautiful smooth lawn gets most of it's good looks from the fact that it is smooth and level with no weeds sticking up above the turf. You have probably mowed your lawn before only to have dandelions popping up above the grass a day later making it look like you need to mow already. A weed free lawn holds it's good looks for several days if the grass is a monoculture with uniform growing heights.
Proper mowing is one of the most important practices in keeping your lawn healthy. Grasses are like most plants — if you clip off the growing points (for grass, it's in the crown, where the new leaves develop), the plants branch out and become denser, which in this case, turns thousands of individual grass plants into a tightly woven turf or a lawn. If you didn't mow at all, your yard would look more like a prairie than a lawn. But the mere act of mowing isn't what makes a lawn look good. Mowing height and mowing frequency determine how healthy and attractive your lawn looks. After all, cutting a lawn is stressful for the grass. The leaves make the food for the roots — and how would you like it if someone kept cutting off your food?
Most grasses have a range of recommended mowing heights. Stay at the upper end of that range when the lawn is under stressful conditions, such as hot weather or drought, or if you have a shady lawn. In cooler weather, you can cut the grass a little lower.
Follow the one-third rule. For a thriving lawn, never cut away more than one-third of the grass blade in any one mowing. If the grass "gets ahead of you" because of wet weather or your busy schedule, move up the cutting height of your mower to the highest possible setting and mow. If clippings are too long and heavy, even at that cutting height, catch them with the bagging unit or clean up after mowing with a leaf rake. Then move the cutting height back to your normal range and cut the lawn again a few days after that first mowing.
Ideal Mowing Heights|
Grass type |
Height |
|
Bahia grass; fescue, tall; blue grama; buffalo grass |
2 to 3 inches |
|
Bent grass |
1/4 to 1 inch |
|
Bermuda grass, common |
3/4 to 1-1/2 inches |
|
Bermuda grass, hybrid |
1/2 to 1 inch |
|
Centipede grass; zoysia grass* |
1 to 2 inches |
|
Fescue, fine; St. Augustine grass |
1-1/2 to 2-1/2 inches |
|
Kentucky bluegrass |
1-3/4 to 2-1/2 inches |
|
Ryegrass, annual and perennial |
1-1/2 to 2 inches |
|
*You can mow some newer, dwarf varieties lower. |
|
Edging and trimming are the finishing touches of mowing, kind of like getting a shave after you've had a haircut. Edging and trimming are pretty close to being the same thing. Some tools are called edgers because they're designed to trim the lawn along a hard surface like a driveway or sidewalk. Edgers cut a nice clean edge, but leave some dirt and grass debris that you need to clean up. On the other hand, you can use trimmers anywhere — along a hard surface, in tight spaces, next to planting beds, and so on. Trimmers also leave some clippings on paths and driveways that you need to sweep up.
Never put grass clippings in a plastic bag and send them off to the dump. (In some areas, sending grass clippings to the dump is illegal.) Grass clippings are valuable organic matter, chock-full of nitrogen and other nutrients. As long as you mow often enough to remove no more than one third of the grass blade, the easiest thing to do is just to leave clippings on the lawn. The pieces break down quickly and reduce the amount of fertilizer you have to use by as much as 25 percent. And research has proven that the clippings don't cause thatch to build up.
Every year, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people get injured when using lawn mowers. Power lawn mowers can be dangerous even when used properly. Be proactive when it comes to safety and follow these tips to avoid injuries:
Repeatedly banging a mower against a tree trunk or whipping it senseless with a weed whip each week can seriously damage the bark and the sensitive tissues underneath. The damage can restrict the growth of young trees to the point where the base of the trunk is so weak and girdled that the tree just snaps off in the slightest wind.
To protect the tree, leave a ring of grassless soil at least 3 feet wide around the trunk. Put in a nice brick or stone edging around the outside. Better yet, cover the open soil with a thick layer (3 to 6 inches deep) of organic mulch, such as compost or bark. (Keep the mulch a few inches away from the base of the tree.)
You can also go to a garden center to buy trunk protectors, plastic sleeves that encircle the trunk, if you have to have the grass right up against the tree.
Once you have achieved the perfect lawn,
after hundreds or thousands of dollars on renovating or installing a
lawn, it just doesn't make sense to let it go back to being a pasture
from lack of watering or other maintenance that needs to be done. Spend
a little time and money and keep it watered and you will keep the lush
grass you spent your hard earned money and time on. The Ideal way to
water your lawn is with an automatic underground sprinkler system. This
way the watering is done every day that it needs it, you don't have to
drag hoses, you don't waste water from overwatering, you get all of the
lawn watered, not just where you
happen to set the sprinkler. How many times have you started the
sprinkler then forgot to move it? This wastes water and over waters
some parts of the lawn while other parts may never get water because
it's too far to drag a hose to. Another common problem in hand watering
is that you can only run one or two sprinklers at a time. If you have a
very large lawn this could take all day to water. Automatic systems
will water when you program the system to come on, once a day, every
other day, once a week, your choice for what needs to be watered. Also,
shrubbery and annuals need to be watered separate from the lawn. If you
applied the same amount of water on your landscape as gets put on the
lawn you would surely kill some plants from overwatering. An automatic
system waters landscape plants on their own zone at the times they need
it, even multiple times per day for tender annuals like impatiens.
We can help with all of the above items if you do not have the
time or ability to do it all on your own.
Give us a call at 281-359-4044 and we
can help you out at anytime.
Hardscape
/ landscape tips
