Do you always feel that the grass is always greener… at your neighbor’s lawn? Do you want to be able to sit in your veranda and enjoy the beauty of luxuriant grass covering your frontyard? Or hold barbecue parties on your green backyard.
Well, here are a few tips for you to remember to get the lush lawns you have always wanted.
Before planting a lawn
- Make a plan. Ask yourself the following questions: How will the lawn be used? What kind of lawn do I want? What is my budget? How much time can I spend in taking care of it?
- Get your soil tested. It is important for you to determine the quality of your soil. There are landscaping companies in Utah that can help in the testing phase.
- Get soil amendments when needed. This will ensure that you get the quality of lawn you desire.
Watering
Remember that different grass, soil conditions and weather will determine your lawn’s water requirements. As a rule of thumb, hot, dry summer weather will require more water as compared to when the weather is cool.
- Determine the water requirements for your particular grass. Buffalograss requires less frequent watering and can stay green even when you don’t water it for as much as two weeks. Also, lawns in shaded areas require less water. Ask your Salt Lake City landscaping contractor – they will know the watering requirements. One indication that you need to water the lawn is when you step on the lawn and the footprint stays imprinted even after an hour has passed, or, if the leaf blades start to fold.
- Determine the rooting depth in the lawn. You need to water the lawn so that it moistens the root zone. This means that if your root zone has a depth of 6 inches, you need to make sure that the soil is moistened up to that depth.
- Determine the kind of soil you have. Sandy soils must be watered more often than loam or clay soils. This is because of the way the soil is able to hold moisture and make it available for your plants. For clay soil, you will need less frequent watering, but with more water used. For sandy soil, you will need more frequent watering, using less water.
- Allow the water to soak into the turf. If you give the lawn a quick drink, it will only wet the surface of the lawn. Also, if you water too quickly, a considerable portion of the water will just run off, especially if your lawn has a slope. To avoid this, move the sprinkler from time to time or apply only a portion of the water on a particular spot to enable the water to penetrate and soak the soil. After an hour, move the sprinkler back to that spot or water the spot in question.
- Water the lawn at the right times. It is recommended that you water the lawn during the early morning (8 to 9 a.m.) or the late evening (10 p.m. to midnight). This is because there is more humidity and less heat, the water does not tend to evaporate. Also, water pressure in your neighborhood may be better at these times. (However, you should also check if you are allowed to water at night – some cities ban this practice to avoid waste when the sprinkler is turned on the whole night.)
Mowing
Generally, the lawn should be two inches in height. Mowing the lawn shorter than that may make your lawn less tolerant to heat and drought. It may also invite more insects and make the lawn more susceptible to weeds and diseases.
- Regularly check your lawn mower – for height and sharpness of the blade. Sharpen the blades as necessary (usually after having used the mower four times). When the blade is dull, it will does not cut cleanly into the grass – it just rips the top layers of the grass. When this happens, the leaves heal at a slower rate and the leaves lose more water, leaving you with grass that has frayed brown tips.
- Mow the lawn at the same height for the entire year.
- Wait for the law to grow some 3 inches tall then mow. For buffalograss lawns, this may mean mowing every 2 weeks. For a bluegrass or fescue law, this may mean once a week (during hot or cold days) or every three or four days during spring (when the grass is growing at a faster rate).
- Avoid cutting too much at a time. As a general rule, you shouldn’t cut to more than one-third of the lawn’s height. You may need to raise the mower’s height at times.
- Leave the grass clippings. You don’t need to remove the grass cuttings. Leave them where they are so that it can provide nutrients to the lawn.
Fertilizing
Fertilizer is your lawn’s vitamins. However, you should also know just how often to apply fertilizer. Once a year will do for most yards. But if you want lush growth, you should apply twice or four times a year. Applying too much is not advisable – it may cause fertilizer burn in the lawn.
- For once-a-year applications, apply during the grass’ growing season. For instance, apply fertilizer in spring time for grass that grow in the warm season and fall for grass that grows in the cool season.
- Carefully read the instructions.
- Apply different fertilizers in different seasons. For instance, apply a fertilizer that has a high potassium content during the autumn (to prepare the grass for winter’s approach) and a fertilizer that has a high nitrogen content during spring.
- Divide up the lawn in sections and plan how you’ll apply the fertilizer. This prevents you from applying fertilizer on one spot twice.
Weed Control
- Pull the weeds by hand if they’re not that many.
- To prevent weeds from sprouting, you can also apply pre-emergence herbicide.
- If you are located in Utah, you can hire an expert Salt Lake City landscaping company such as All States Landscaping to help you with weed control by enabling your grass to grow healthy and prevent the weeds from taking over.
- Avoid overwatering and underwatering your yard as these promote healthy conditions for weeds to grow.
Other tips
- Regularly trim the trees surrounding your lawn to allow more sunlight to reach your lawn.
- Aerate your soil once every few years. This will help in the development of a deeper and better root system for the grass.
How All States Landscaping can help
Let the experts take care of your lawn! All States Landscaping is undoubtedly Salt Lake city’s best landscaping company. They have the tools, experience and expertise in maintaining a healthy lawn. Aside from Utah landscaping services, they also provide creative landscape design and implementation, property cleanup, lawn maintenance, snow removal, among other landscaping related services.
