If you are new to lawn care, you might not know where to begin. While it is not too complicated to keep your lawn healthy, it does require some work. Pick up a beginners guide to lawn care in order to get started with at home lawn care. These guides will tell you what you need to do and what kinds of supplies you’ll need. While the solution for some will be lawn service, it is not completely necessary in order to get good results.
However, you can still get affordable lawn care from a service. While many will provide extensive, costly services, others will be more affordable. These ones might help you plant, while leaving you to maintain. Or they’ll do certain maintenance tasks for you. If you are unable to do property hydroseeding, you can bring in a professional while you handle the everyday tasks. Consider your budget as well as what you want to do. This will help you decide what to do yourself and what you should bring in a professional lawn care company to do.
It is no secret that people around the United States put a lot of time, energy and money into the look of their lawns. More than three-quarters of American homeowners say that they think it is important to give themselves time to spend in their outdoor spaces, according to a Harris Poll for the National Association of Landscape Professionals. Moreover, at least 83% of American adults say that it is important to have a yard. More than 90% of people whose home has a yard think it is important to make it look good. Many people head to their local plant nursery to get going on their landscaping projects but there are other things you can do to make your yard look its best.
Do not over mow your grass. Experts at nursery centers say this is one of the most common mistakes people make with their yards. People think they need to mow their yard so that the grass is very short. The opposite is true. When you have grass that is longer, it is healthier Healthier grass is happier and better-looking grass. You should remember that there is a relationship between the length of the grass and the length of the roots. They are typically the same length so longer grass will be more resilient to the elements.
Leave the clippings where they fall. A lot of homeowners think the task of mowing their lawn has to include collecting the clippings when they are done. That is a mistake. Rather than take up the clippings and then go to the nurseries for fertilizer and the like, let the clippings stay where they fall and you will be adding much-needed nitrogen to your yard. The clippings themselves can help the biological work that is being done below the surface of the soil.
- Keep your grass from getting thirsty. Thirsty grass is not happy grass, say experts in lawn maintenance. One good rule to follow is that most lawns need to be given about 1.5 inches of water every week. This changes throughout the year and you may need to add more in the summer months when it is hotter.
- Pay attention to the time of day. The experts at the local nursery will tell you that it matters just as much when you water as how much. If you water your lawn during the middle of the day when the sun is high in the sky, you will lose most of your moisture to the sun and the roots of your grass, who need the water the most, will be left out. You should do all of your watering in the early morning or after the sun has set for the day.
- Use a sharp blade on your mower. Have you ever cut yourself with a dull blade? How about a sharp one? If you have, you know that it hurts a lot less when you cut yourself with a sharp blade. Your grass feels the same way. You do a lot less damage to the individual blades of grass when you mow with a mower whose blades are sharp as can be. Grass mowed with a sharper blade looks better and will be more resilient.
- Give your grass some oxygen. You need to aerate your yard for a few reasons. This makes it easier for the roots to grow and become strong. When you use a tool to break up the soil, you can also help move around the bacteria and other organisms that are so needed by your lawn.
- Change up your pattern when you mow. It is easy to get into a pattern when you mow and do the same thing over and over again. The thing is that you do not want the wheels on your mower to make contact with the same areas every week and every time you mow. One easy way to change this up is to mow in the vertical direction one week and the horizontal the next.
Getting your yard into shape and keeping it looking its best takes more than going to the local nursery to get supplies. You need to take the time and put in the effort for the best looking lawn.