6 effective lawn care tips to maintain a green yard
In most cases, the lawn is the first thing people see when they visit someone’s house. One could argue that maintaining a green and clean lawn is the best way to give the house an inviting look. However, it is not easy to maintain the space, and people often don’t have the time to design, trim, and prune the landscape. Luckily, there are several lawn maintenance techniques to help maintain and beautify the area easily.
Water it early in the morning
Watering the lawn grass early in the morning, presumably at about 5 am, keeps it fresh and green for several hours. One can also program their irrigation systems to automatically water the lawn in the morning. Watering early prevents fungal diseases as it gives the grass more than enough time to dry throughout the day. The main benefit of watering the lawn early in the morning is that the grass can absorb enough water before the heat of the afternoon. Also, while watering, one can use the flooding technique instead of using sparse water, as the former forces the soil to retain more water throughout the day.
Seed the bare spots
Weeds can grow in the bare spots of a lawn if one does not cover them with grass over a long period of time. To do so, one can rough up the soil in the dead spots of their lawn using a rake before sprinkling some compost/topsoil there. After that, one can sow grass seeds by hand. Once the seeds have been tamped down manually, don’t forget to water the area thoroughly. After seeding all the bare spots, the grass will have a uniform green appearance eventually and also no signs of weed.
Maintain a high lawn mower setting
Whenever one mows their lawn, the lawn mower must be switched to a high setting. This ensures that the grass is uniformly around 3 inches tall across the lawn. Taller grass is more protective towards the roots. Additionally, taller grass keeps the roots cool and, thereby, fresher and greener for longer. Homeowners are advised to avoid using a gas-powered lawn mower or an incredibly high-voltage device for this purpose, as that may end up cutting the grass too close to the roots and force out the grass saplings altogether. Finding the right balance is key during lawn mowing, making this aspect one of the more challenging lawn care tips to maintain a green yard.
Use the rake often
Raking is a quintessential part of lawn and yard maintenance. This step keeps the grass cleaner and free of unwanted particles and materials lying around the lawn. Raking regularly involves removing the blades of grass left behind after mowing and the leaves dropped during the fall season. Leaving these elements behind can smother and ultimately suffocate the grass and speed up the undesirable growth of snow mold diseases during the winter season. Some of the broken blades can also be nutritional for the lawn grass, therefore, one can retain a percentage of it behind. For best results, one can simply consult a lawn maintenance or home decor expert to know how much to retain and how much to rake and discard.
Pick up litter every few hours
Raking should be followed by picking up the small pieces of trash left behind on the lawn grass. Letting dropped litter sit on the grass spoils its appearance and can be suffocating for the grassroots. It can even cause the lawn to have more dead patches. Bigger things like furniture, wading pools, or toys also deprive the grass of air, light, or water. Therefore, one must not leave litter or large objects on the grass for too long. Additionally, one must not forget to clean up after their pets defecate, puke, or shed skin on their lawns. These waste particles can also create dead patches on the lawn. One must train their pets to relieve themselves in dedicated places set up for the purpose.
Fertilize the lawn regularly
One needs to use fertilizers on their lawns every six weeks on average. Using traditional fertilizers instead of chemical ones is recommended as the latter can increase the saline content in the soil in the long run. The nitrogen content in the fertilizer must be between 10 and 14. One must use the fertilizer judiciously, as applying too much on a given spot can leave brown stains there. This keeps the lawn grass healthy and adequately nourished around the year.
