Lawn Maintenance Tips Beyond Mowing and Watering

Standard lawn maintenance practices help your grass grow thick, green, and beautiful - but the key ingredients of a lush, healthy lawn go beyond simply mowing, watering and fertilizing it. Soil that is too compacted can prevent water and nutrients from reaching grass roots, so aerating can break up compaction and improve oxygen flow to increase circulation in the ground. Mowing Regular lawn mowings create lush and healthy looking lawns while also helping prevent weeds from sprouting, competing with grass for water and nutrients. Regular lawn maintenance should include blowing away any clippings left on paths and driveways, creating an appealing aesthetic while being beneficial to the environment. Grass waste washes into storm drains where it clogs them up, contributing to phosphorus pollution in rivers and lakes. Lawn care experts understand the different species and soil conditions that influence the health and aesthetic appeal of your yard, keeping its greenery in top condition throughout the year through services like aeration, dethatching and weed control. Furthermore, professional lawn maintenance teams know how to address seasonal pests or diseases that might threaten its beauty. Watering Proper watering of your lawn is vital to its appearance and health, but overwatering can result in soggy or salty soil that damages its grass. Watering during early morning or late afternoon hours when both sun and air conditions are cooler will help decrease wasted evaporation and allow your grass to absorb the needed moisture faster. Are You Needing Water for Your Lawn? There are numerous telltale signs that indicate your lawn requires watering, including footprints that don't quickly disappear and a dull, bluish-green hue. Crinkled grass blades may indicate dehydration while taller grass helps retain more moisture, weather drought better, shade the soil better and prevent weed growth better than shorter varieties. Plus, having an attractive yard increases curb appeal of any home! Fertilizing Fertilizers provide essential nutrients that grass needs for its healthy development: nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. For homeowners to achieve the lush lawn they want requires frequent fertilization with fertilizers that meet these criteria. Nitrogen fertilizers are commonly added to lawns as a fertilizer to promote rapid plant growth and dark green color, but over time the nitrogen levels in soil may deplete due to leaching, mowing practices or removal of yard waste such as leaves or branches which would normally return nitrogen back into soil. Professional landscapers use specially equipped tanker trucks to apply nitrogen-based fertilizers evenly and granularly across lawns, while homeowners may use spreaders or spreader machines to spread granular fertilizers evenly around their property - just be wary not to over-fertilize as excess nutrients may pollute nearby streams, rivers and lakes. Weeding Weeds have the potential to take over grass if left to flourish unchecked, so regular mowing helps control them. A quality mulch such as garden compost, wood chips, processed bark, leaf mold or straw helps control weeds while adding essential nutrients into the soil. Regular dethatching removes a layer of dead grass, leaves, and organic debris that builds up over time, blocking air, water, and nutrients from reaching the roots of grass as well as encouraging weed growth. Weeds can be controlled with herbicide. Corn gluten stops certain types of weeds from sprouting while horticultural white vinegar (acetic acid) kills them without harming grass growth. Weed control products are an integral component of any comprehensive lawn maintenance program and should be tailored specifically for each property's unique situation. A professional can advise on an effective weed management strategy. Pruning Pruning and trimming are essential tasks to keeping any landscape looking its best. By trimming shrubs, bushes, and hedges regularly to encourage healthy growth while creating visual balance in the overall scene, pruning helps ensure your home's landscape can look its absolute best. Pruning and trimming can be an overwhelming task to undertake on your own, so it is best to entrust this task to an experienced professional. An expert knows exactly what your landscape needs in order to look its best as well as when is best time of year to prune. For evergreen grasses that become overgrown with excessive growth, late winter or early spring is the optimal time for pruning. Pruning can help them retain their original form without impacting their health - while cutting away dead branches is important for keeping disease from spreading across your landscaping.paving installers