How to Keep your Lawn Green and Happy

 

Your lawn is probably the most important part of your garden and thus every care you can provide. A green and clean lawn is a sight to behold. But bugs, fungus, moss or diseases can transform a lush green lawn into a graveyard. In this post we provide some tips to avoid all of these and ensure that your lawn is always green and smiling.

The One Third Rule of Mowing: With every mowing shorten the height of the grass by one third, never more. Mow the grass two or three times a week if the grass is growing fast. And don’t forget to sharpen the blades of your mower regularly.

Pet Peeves: You may have a pet at home which may fancy the garden lawn as a green way to relieve itself. The pet’s urine may create dark spots in the lawn. In such cases, Sprinkle the lawn with water to dilute the salt content of the urine and train your pet to change its habit.

Attack of the Weeds: Unfertilized, uncared for lawns are commonly the favourite ground for weeds. Instead of tackiling the growth of weeds by spraying pesticides or herbicides all over the lawn, try spooting the weeds first and then spray the herbicide only in those spots. It means more work, but it also means cleaner grass. Also, the growth of weeds in your lawn is also an indication that it is not being maintained properly.

Fertilizing the Grass: How much or how often should you fertilize the grass in your lawn? Most people don’t have much idea. Fertilizing your lawn depends on the type of grass, weather conditions and other factors. In warmer climates twice or thrice a year at the start of each season is fine. In cooler climates, four to five feedings of fertilizer may be required. Be careful with fertilizers though. While some extra fertilizer may make the grass grow faster it may also burn up some grass because the chemicals used in fertilizers are caustic.

Shade and moss: Grass needs ample Sunlight to grow properly. If your lawn doesn’t get enough sunlight,it may gather moss, which is hard to remove either through chemicals or through physical methods. If your lawn receives less than four hours or direct sun daily, you probably shouldn’t be growing grass in your lawn and go for shade adapted ground covers or perennials.

Avoiding Diseases: Dead spots or pockmarks in your lawn are produced by diseased grass. To avoid diseases, water your lawn early morning. If you think your lawn is disease ridder consider taking the advice of an expert in plant diseases.

Grub Menace: Dead spots in the lawn are generally caused by white or lawn grubs. These are small insects that come out from beetle larvae and are found during late spring and autumn. One way to find out if you have got grub problem is if you see holes in your lawn from birds or gophers eating these grubs. The key to fighting the grub menace is to identify which species of grub you’ve got and apply appropriate insecticides.

Avoid Compaction: The soil compaction in your lawn will mean less air and space for the grass roots to grow. This happens due to stress on the soil making it more condenced. If you see water puddling after a rainfall, your soil is probably compacted. In such cases aerate the soil and cover it with dry compost.

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Gardening, Lawn Care, Organic Lawn Care