Photos By: Unsplash

The landscaping industry has seen a significant spike in revenue in recent years; in 2019, it generated total revenue of over $99 billion in the U.S. alone.

Fortunately, you don’t always need a professional landscaper to keep your lawns in great shape. Whether your lawn is thriving or merely striving, here are seven top lawn maintenance tips that will keep your lawn looking its best at all times.

1. Develop a Watering Plan

There are plenty of misconceptions floating around with regard to irrigation. Many homeowners overwater their grass, while others don’t give their lawns nearly enough nourishment. Identify the best times to water your grass and choose the right watering pattern for your lawn. This might even require you to invest in a different sprinkler system—one that offers better coverage for your lawn. Do your research, craft a watering schedule, and make sure your grass is getting an ideal amount of water each day!

2. Remember to Fertilize

Ample water and sunlight will go a long way towards enhancing your lawn’s appearance, yet it’s important that you also fertilize your lawn. Naturally, the soil will contain many of the nutrients your grass needs to thrive; but as your lawn grows and is mowed, your soil is unlikely to contain all of the resources that your grass requires. An organic fertilizer—applied once every two or three months—will provide a much-needed boost!

Just be sure to keep all fertilizer products labeled at all times and keep them out of the reach of children and pets. Certain products have been linked to cancer, neurological effects, and birth defects.

3. Keep your Lawn Clean

While definitely essential, proper nourishment isn’t the be-all and end-all of lawn maintenance. The health of your lawn also depends on how tidy you keep it. Particularly if you have young children who like to play with toys outside and kick balls around the yard, make sure you keep an eye out for any objects that could be blocking areas of grass from receiving proper sunlight, water, and fertilizer. Make an effort to clear all objects from your lawn in a timely manner, as neglecting to do so will likely result in sparse grass and patches of visible soil scattered across your property.

4. Always Pick up After Pets

While it might be tempting to leave pet droppings on your lawn to decompose naturally, keep in mind that this process takes a significant amount of time. In colder conditions, it can take up to 12 months! Well before the waste has had a chance to decompose, you’ll start to notice patches of dead grass and bare soil form across your lawn. Instead, be diligent about picking up after your pet. You’ll find that this relatively minor inconvenience will save you plenty of headaches down the road.

5. Cut your Grass at the Right Height

Did you know that shorter isn’t better? If you’re like most people, you’ve probably set your blades close to the ground in order to avoid mowing as frequently. However, setting your mower’s blades any shorter than a few inches from the ground often results in a bad cut—causing the tips of your grass to develop a lifeless, brownish color. The ideal cutting height for most lawns is between 2 ½ and 3 ½ inches. While setting your blades to this height might require you to mow more often, your lawn’s enhanced appearance will be worth the extra work.

6. Maintain your Lawnmower

Like all machines, lawnmowers break down over time. When the blades on your mower become dull, they will no longer deliver a sharp, uniform edge for your grass. Rather, they will leave your lawn with an uneven, jagged cut. Over time, this will cause your grass tips to take on a brownish tint.

Fortunately, maintaining your lawnmower isn’t nearly as difficult as it might sound. Simply servicing the blades once or twice annually will allow them to stay sharp throughout all mowing seasons!

7. Get Help from a Pro!

Remember, taking care of your lawn is hard work. If watering, fertilizing, and maintaining your mower is a little over your head, or if you simply the lack the time or money to invest in your lawn, consider hiring a professional who can handle all of your lawn care needs.

Today’s landscaping and lawn maintenance experts can draft up a maintenance schedule that will keep your lawns looking lush and healthy year-round—and with very little effort needed on your end!

Photo: Giffin & Crane General Contractors, Inc.

Summertime is a time for fun, sun and lawn care. In fact, people take great pride in their lawns, but they are especially vigilant during summer. If they don’t pay attention, the summer heat can actually pose a threat to their lawn.

In this article, we will present you with 4 tips to help you keep your lawn alive through the summer heat.

1. Water At The Right Time of the Day

Many people feel that you can water any time of day, and still have a healthy lawn. The fact is, it is quite the contrary. It all has to do with the timing of sunlight.

Photosynthesis needs sunlight to take place. If you water at night, photosynthesis cannot take place and you could introduce lawn disease into the soil.

On the other hand, irrigating your lawn during the heat of the day is no good either. The soil will only absorb a small part of it due to evaporation.

So the best time to water your lawn is in the morning, just before or just as the sun is coming up. The soil can properly absorb all the water you gave it, in time for the sunlight to do the rest, paving the way for optimum photosynthesis.

Photo: Arcadia Studio

2. Water For Deep Roots

To have a healthy lawn, you need deep roots. Watering at the right intervals will help you achieve that.

Watering that is too frequent will make your root system shallow. If you want to develop deep roots, give your lawn two or three long soaks per week, and again, in the morning.

This will ensure that, through the brutal summer months when the heat can do plenty of damage, your lawn will be alive and well, with strong roots to boot.

Photo: Ryan Street & Associates

3. Give Your Lawn Some Air

Aerating your lawn – the process of pushing holes at six inch intervals all over your lawn – allows nutrients to get to the roots, helps it absorb water better, making it thick and healthy.

However, aerating is not something that you do like watering your lawn. It’s something that’s done once in early and late spring, and early fall.

Aerating your lawn can be done with a machine, especially if you have a large lawn. However, you can take a garden fork to poke into your lawn at intervals of six inches all over your lawn.

4. Mow At a Higher Height

Many people cut their lawns short so they don’t have to mow as often. This could be damaging to your grass.

If you cut your lawn too short, the roots of the grass are more exposed to the scorching heat, and could dry out fast. Cutting the grass at a higher height will leave the grass blades long, providing more protection for the roots.

Summary

We learned that watering 2-3 times a week, with long morning soaks, aerating your lawn and mowing at a higher height will all contribute to a real healthy lawn. We hope that you picked up some good tips that you can use so that your lawn will s