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Lawn Care
If you didn’t have a healthy lawn last summer, your lawn care
practices might be at the root of the problem. Actually, a
healthy lawn needs very little care and quite often learning
what lawn care tips not to try is the best advice you can get.
Don’t over water. A healthy lawn needs about an inch of water a
week and it’s best if it gets it all at once. You can check this
easily by digging a plastic cup into your lawn. Watering deep
allows the water to sink and gives your grass incentive to grow
roots and find the water. Saturating your lawn will drown the
roots and watering too shallow will keep them satisfied with
their present depth. Shallow rooted grass is no competition for
deep-rooted weeds.
Don’t over fertilize. In fact, if you rarely fertilize, both
your turf and your topsoil would be better off. Aside from the
fact that chemical fertilizers aren’t safe for your family and
the critters that live in your lawn (which are mostly
beneficial), chemical fertilizers aren’t safe for your soil.
Although they are called “lawn food”, what they really are is
“turf candy”. Grass, like any other plant gets its true
nourishment from the soil. Don’t feed the plant… learn how to
feed the soil through sound organic lawn care methods.
Healthy lawn care starts with healthy topsoil. Your lawn will
thrive with four inches of healthy top soil, but it will be at
its best with six. The problem is how do you get more top soil
without ruining the turf you already have? Simply said, topsoil
is the top four to ten inches of dirt under your turf except
that this layer of earth should be nutrient rich and robust with
organic matter and some little critters (like earthworms). If
you don’t have good topsoil, you won’t be able to maintain good
turf. You can start building good topsoil in the fall by
mulching with good organic compost. About a third of an inch of
fine compost on top of your grass will fall between the blades
and soak into the earth over winter.
In the spring, aerate your lawn. This will work some of the left
over compost deeper and in addition give your lawn and the
critters that live in the soil a breath of fresh air. Aeration
also makes new channels for water to pass through and helps
break up clumps of earth that impede drainage.
When mowing, mow high. Mowing high gives your grass takes weeds
out of the competition for sunlight. In addition, longer grass
is more apt to propagate through rhizome growth. More grass
means less weeds and less weeds mean more healthy grass! Healthy
grass means less lawn care and more time to enjoy your lawn!
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