Who doesn’t want a lawn that’s the envy of all the neighbors? All too often, however, people assume that all that is required to achieve a perfect lawn, is regular mowing. In fact, there’s much more to it than that.
If your lawn is looking less than luscious, try out some of these tips from the experts to bring it back to full health.
1. Work On The Grass Itself
If you want a perfect lawn, you first need to work on eliminating anything else growing on it. Many people like to keep chemical weed-killers away from their lawn. If this applies to you, use some of the old-fashioned methods for removing weeds instead. For example, one trick with dandelions is to pour a little salt on the root after pulling them up.
2. Mow for Your Climate
In general, if you live somewhere that is fairly cool, your mower blades should be set for a cutting height of between one and a half and two inches; two inches during the very hot summer months. If you live in a fairly warm climate, set the height of the blades a little lower.
3. Water Your Lawn Correctly
Believe it or not, there is a science to watering a lawn, and a lot of it has to do with the type of soil it’s sitting on. It’ll also depend on the time of year, and the time of day that you water it too. Ideally, you’re looking for the water to soak down a few inches. Light watering means that only the top of the soil gets moist, meaning the roots won’t be as deep, and your grass, ultimately, won’t be as healthy.
4. Get the Drainage Right
In a perfect world, your lawn would slope away from your house so the water has somewhere to go. However, you don’t want too much of a slope as you want your lawn to look level. Puddles of water that stay on your lawn for any amount of time can do serious damage though, so good drainage of some kind is vital.
5. Aerate Your Lawn Regularly
One way to counteract the effects of a waterlogged lawn is to aerate it on a regular basis. Aerating also has other benefits too, such as allowing more nutrients to find their way down to the roots. To aerate your lawn, you can use a simple garden fork but another good option is to invest in specialist shoes. Strolling around your lawn in aerating shoes benefits you and your lawn.
6. Consider Starting from Scratch
The fact of the matter is that sometimes a lawn is so far past repair that you are better off starting from scratch. If you’re thinking of going down that particular garden path, then look into which types of turf would be best for your climate, soil type and garden usage. It’s important to think about what your garden is going to be used for, as that will affect how hard-wearing the turf should be. Select turf that is good quality. It should be even, between a half and three-quarters of an inch thick. There shouldn’t be any brown patches, and the underside should be moist when lifted. It shouldn’t contain any weeds or look dry. Zoysia Sod is a good example of the kind of top quality turf you should be looking for.
Getting a lawn to look its best is hard work, and it will take some time to achieve the results you want if you’re starting from a poor base, or if you are new to gardening. But it’s certainly worth the effort when you’re able to look out on a luscious, green lawn on a summer’s afternoon and reap the benefits of your efforts.