Guide To Growing A Healthy Lush Carpet Of Grass
Everyone wants the perfect lawn. I mean, what is better than looking out your front door and seeing lush, emerald-green grass? You don’t need to be a landscape artist to get that lawn of your dreams. Just a bit of planning, hard work and TLC will get you that healthy lush carpet of grass.
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Fight Weeds and Pests
Did you know that weeds can be an indication that your lawn health is not optimal? You can keep weeds off your lawn by growing a thick and strong lawn that won’t allow sunlight to touch the soil surface, thus promoting weed growth. Hand-weeding, on the other hand, is still the best defense to eliminate annoying weeds.
Meanwhile, if beetles, lawn grubs and other pests are eating your lawn, then you will have to change your lawn care. Even better, you can hire professionals from pestcontrolpros and keep those bugs and pests away for a healthy lush carpet of grass. They use the least toxic treatment available to reduce infestations while reducing health risks to you and your family.
Choose a Good Grass
Depending on where you live, you’ll have to pick a grass variety fit for the climate. Grasses have 2 basic categories— cool climate and warm climate.
Warm climate grasses can survive even the most brutal summer. Varieties include Kikuyu, St. Augustine and Bermuda grasses. Cool season grasses, on the other hand, are much better off in cold areas. They tolerate freezing temperatures and even drought, however, you can’t expect them to survive 4 weeks without water or intense heat. The most common variety would be Kentucky bluegrass.
There are other things to consider when choosing the right grass, including shade and sun requirements, how much rain your area gets or how much traffic your lawn will get. If you are unsure, you can always ask a lawn care expert of your local 4-H office for suggestions and recommendations.
Prepare for Planting
After you’ve chosen the grass, you will need to prepare the land. Remove weeds and old grass using a sod cutter or grape hoe. Then, grade soil to a 1 – 2 percent slope running away from buildings. Make sure to perform a soil test and improve soil based on the results. Rake in starter fertilizer, water the soil and allow it to settle for a week.
Installing
If you have a large lawn, you can always break it into sections to make the task more manageable. If you are planting seeds, you can use a handy lawn spreader and sow half of the seeds while walking in parallel rows. Then, sow the rest in rows at right angles to the initial rows. Rake at least 3 mm of soil over the seed.
If you are installing sods, then you will have to remove a few inches of soil so that the sods are at level with the surrounding area. Lay the sods in staggered rows like you would when laying bricks.
Watering
You need to water consistently, but not too often. You also need to allow for the soil to dry out between watering, forcing grass to grow deeper roots in order to find water. Most lawns need at least an inch of water per week. However, if it rains more than an inch per week, you won’t have to water your lawn.
Fertilize Naturally
You don’t have to buy expensive chemical fertilizers to keep your lawn healthy. Natural fertilizers such as compost work just fine. In addition, natural solutions nourish the soil over time, creating a stronger lawn over time.
One way to do this is to use topdressing where you will scatter half an inch of natural fertilizer or compost over the grass and rake it. Alternatively, you can add natural fertilizer before watering or after aerating.
Don’t Mow Too Low
In terms of landscaping and maintenance, people usually cut their lawn as short as possible, to make it easier for them.
However, it is recommended to set the mower blades to at least 3 inches tall. This is because taller grass shades out weed seed. Also, mowing a lawn too short puts stress on your grass, reducing deep root growth and decreasing its capability to resist drought conditions, pests, and weeds.
