This is the place for Lawn Care Tips. Follow some of these tips and you will be well on your way to establishing and maintaining a beautiful lawn. 

Fertilizing

   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.  Fertilizer makes the seed germinate faster, and gives grass a better start 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.

Weed Control

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

Mowing is the most misunderstood part of lawn care, and the most often incorrectly performed part of lawn care. Far too many people will set their mowers too low or "scalp" the lawn. This leads to thin and dying out grass, shallow root systems, and in the long run, NO GRASS.

Clippings: "Cut It High and Let It Lie"

"Should I catch my clippings when I mow?" No! It's almost never a good idea to collect clippings from your lawn for several good reasons. Clippings return a lot of nutrients to the lawn, they do not add to thatch, and there's no more room for them in landfills anyway.

It's true that for years it seemed like a good idea to bag lawn clippings, but new research and environmental concerns have changed all that.  Grasscycling makes good sense.

Lawns Stay Greener When The Clippings Stay

Clippings "recycle" as much as 15% of all the food value of the fertilizer applied. This means a lawn that grasscycles can be greener and better fed than one where clippings are removed. And because clippings have such a high water content, they break down quickly and return both moisture and nutrients to the soil fast. Letting your clippings lie taps into the natural cycle of nature, and saves you time and work.

Watering

Once you have achieved the better 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 money and time on. If you have a very large lawn this could take all day to water so you may want to consider an Automatic system that can 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 could  kill some plants from over watering. An automatic system can water landscape plants on their own zone at the times they need it, even multiple times per day for tender annuals like impatiens.

Regular Mowing

Lastly.  MOW REGULARLY.  That's where I come in.  Put me on a regular schedule to come by and keep your lawn at the best height.  Not mowing regularly will allow weeds to seed and replenish.  But, since you need to be drinking ice tea and enjoying the summer months it's best that you leave the mowing to me.  Call me at 423-967-2054 or if it's too late to call just fill out the contact me form and an email will be sent to me and I can give you a call back.

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