The type of lawn care, that works best for you, depends on the time and money, that you are able to spend on your lawn. If your lawn is your hobby, you can spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on it. On the other hand, if all you want, is a low maintenance, green expanse, around a pool, or for the kids to play, or that you can enjoy with family and friends, then there is  an easier way.

These tips should help you to maintain an attractive lawn, without too much effort and expense.

1) Plan
First off, the best lawn care tip you can ever get, is simply to have a plan. Once that is done, the rest is easy. What do you want to do with the lawn? Is it a large flat area, or is it interwoven with paths, hedges, bushes and ponds? Do you need to landscape first? Does it have a lot of traffic? Do the kids play on it? Do you have to mow yourself? Try to find the answers to those questions before deciding further.

2) Planting
Do you still need to plant grass? Do you want to change the type of grass? Do some research, on the best seed for your area, where to buy it cheap, and when it’s available. Depending on where you live, you’ll plant either cool season grass, or warm season grass. Make absolutely sure it’s what you want and need, before planting. You get rough grass, smooth matted grass, prickly grass, fast growing grass and slow growing grass, you get grass that browns off and grass that stays green, so look at all the options. You want the best lawn.

Cool season grass, mostly planted in northern areas, is usually best planted in the early fall, but if you missed planting then, you can still plant it in the spring, when soil temperatures reach around 50 F.

Warm season grass, needs soil temps of 70F, in order to thrive and is the common choice for southern plantings.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can plant warm season grass, in the northern parts and vice versa. Warm season grasses, are specially bred, to thrive in southern climates and are not winter hardy, in the northern parts. The opposite also applies.

3)Watering
Of course, you’ll keep new grass plantings moist, but once grass reaches a height of about three inches, then you need to water it deeply, at least once a week.

A healthy lawn needs about an inch of water, every week. When watering, remember to consider recent rainfalls. Shallow watering techniques, keep grass from sinking those deep roots, that your lawn needs, to compete with deep rooted weeds. Heavier watering allows those roots to penetrate the soils.

4) Aerating
Do you already have a lawn, or are you still developing? If you do, then aerate it in the spring, while it’s still moist and before the spring rains are over.

Aerating your lawn, in the springtime, gives the microbes and other small life forms, a breath of fresh air, after winter. Aeration also makes new paths for drainage and keeps your lawn from becoming saturated.

5) Nutrients
A lot is written about lawn fertilizer and the big question is why? Grass is the most efficient user of nitrogen, on the earth! But, you may need to assist your lawn, at certain times and there are several special fertilizer mixes available. Just ask at your nursery, or garden shop.

Rather feed your soil, with nutrient rich compost and let your lawn get its nutrients, the natural way. The more chemicals you use, the more you disturb the natural biological processes, that convert organic matter into nutrients and the microbes and other small organisms, that take natural care of your lawn.

6) Mowing
Mow your lawn regularly. Better mow more often and leave it high. A 2 ½ to 3-inch high cut makes your lawn look fuller, feel softer, and helps keep it healthy. Taller grass tends to shade pesky weed seeds and keeps them from getting established. In addition, a taller lawn is better able to absorb sunshine and better able to retain moisture, the two main contributors to a healthy lawn. Most people find mowing tedious and tend to mow too low, in an effort to mow less often. This practice damages your lawn. Kikuya is the exception and 3 inches of Kikuya is too long practically, as that grass grows very quickly and by the end of the week, your lawn will look unkempt.

7) Enjoy
Enjoy your lawn. After all, isn’t that your main reason for having a yard? Having a lush green lawn makes your whole yard look so much more inviting.

Amazing! Discover the secrets to transforming your grass plot into a stunning billiard table lawn! Tips on how to discover your perfect lawn. See more:   
http://www.dersalsites.com/gardeningtips/prod/lawnsurg/

Sally Robson is a South African Internet marketer, who together with her husband Derek, have a vision of empowering all fellow South Africans and other non U.S folk, to have equal opportunity and success on the internet, by overcoming the many obstacles facing them. They have started a string of sites, resources, courses and articles, as part of Dersalsites. Sally has a passion for gardening. For more articles and advice on gardening topics, visit Sally at: http://www.dersalsites.com/sallysgardeningtips/ 

Bookmark to: