12 Care Tips for a Healthier Yard
By George Atchley
A yard full of native plants and natural landscaping can be the envy of the neighborhood, but many people prefer manicured lawns. If you want thick, lush grass, the best way to assure a healthy lawn is to give it the attention and care it deserves.
Best practices for lawn care
Broad-spectrum insecticides do more harm than good. Less than 2 percent of the insects found in your backyard are pests. Most are considered beneficial. Find environmentally friendly forms of controlling harmful insects.
Having a weed-free yard is pretty much impossible and not really desirable for a healthy lawn. Remove young weeds as they appear. It’s easier (and less time-consuming) to control a few young weeds than it is to wage war on many large, seed-producing monsters.
Be persistent with dandelions. By repeatedly removing their leaves and flowers, you will keep seeds from spreading and eventually starve the taproot, which kills the weed. Do what you can to keep weeds from going to seed. If you can cut down on the number of weed seeds in your yard, you’ve won half the battle.
Clover in the lawn is not all bad. It is drought tolerant, stays green, fixes nitrogen from the air (which helps feed grasses) and earthworms love it. It is also edible. Throw a few in a salad for an added natural boost.
To crowd out weeds, reduce watering and improve the overall appearance of your lawn, raise the height of your mower to 2-1/2 inches.
Most lawns need about 1-inch of water per week to thrive. Water in the morning to prevent disease.
Keep your mower blade sharp. This will not only make mowing easier, but it will also reduce tearing the blades of grass, which can promote lawn diseases.
Avoid mowing in the same direction or pattern each time you mow. When you do this, you risk compacting soil and actually creating ruts. Both compacted soil and ruts can lead to grass that’s less healthy, followed by weeds that thrive in compacted soil.
If possible, do not mow when the lawn is wet. The result will be a very uneven cut.
Even in the best of soils, chemical lawn fertilizers can kill soil microbes, repel beneficial earthworms, and ruin soil structure.
Thatch will not form from grass cuttings. Instead, the clippings will attract earthworms, which break down thatch, aerate the soil, and reduce compaction. Adding a dethatching routine in the spring will make sure your grass will be able to be at its healthiest.
Aerating a lawn improves its health immensely by creating holes in soil that allow grass roots to receive oxygen, water and fertilizer. Aeration reduces soil compaction and ultimately enhances root growth. Time aeration so it’s done just before grass enters its active growing phase, ideally in late spring or early summer.
Use an organic, slow-release soil amendment to feed your lawn and the soil. These materials break down slowly, feeding your grass over a longer period of time. ClimateYard™ gives you exactly the nourishment your yard needs, without the concern of harmful runoff.
Conclusion
These tips can give you the best chance for a healthy lawn. Diligence with harmful pests and rampant weeds will make your yard the talk of the neighborhood. To assure a healthy lawn for years to come, set your appointment with our ClimateYard team to evaluate your yard for the proper dosage of the best lawn and soil amendment available today.