Seven Tips To Keep Your Lawn In Tip Top Condition

By:Kelvin Ho

A healthy and attractive lawn is one feature of a home that most people value almost as much as the house itself. Lovely lawn care can add tremendously property value to your home purchase, so it is important to keep your lawn maintained and manicured as much as possible. Hiring lawn-care specialists can become rather pricey as spring and summer arrive, because of the high demand of these professionals, and because of their expertise. Yet, there are several tips from the experts that you can use to take care of your lawn yourself, without hiring a professional, thus saving you a substantial amount of money. Let us take a look at seven helpful lawn-care tips to keeping your yard in immaculate condition throughout the year.

A Lawn That Is The Envy Of The Neighborhood

Tip #1: Mow the grass properly.
The first item of lawn care is, of course, the grass. Everyone wonders how much grass should be mowed and what the length should be. Generally, you want enough greenery to support the process of photosynthesis, meaning that plenty of foliage is exposed to sunlight. If you cut the grass too short, it can damage the grass and result in wasting water. Try not to cut more that one-third of the blade during a mowing. It is also important to mow grass when it is dry as opposed to wet.

Tip #2 Give your grass adequate water.
The season and the soil type are the two factors that determine how much water will be required for the lawn. During the hot summer months, watering is obviously more important than the wintertime. Choose the early morning for watering if possible, as this will minimize wasting water and evaporation. If it happens to rain abundantly during the night, you can have a water supply for two weeks with no watering required. Try not to water your lawn at night, as this promotes fungus and insect problems.

Tip #3 Use the right fertilizers.
Weed killer should be used in lawn care, especially during early spring and fall. Weeds are an unavoidable part of maintaining your lawn, so choosing a good weed product is very important to the health and beauty of your yard. Two types of weed controls that are most popular are the pre-emergent type, which works before weeds appear and the post-emergent, for using directly on the weeds themselves. Be sure and spray on a non-windy day to avoid contact with blowing chemicals.

Tip #4 Aerate your lawn for renewed vigor.
With all the activity that many lawns receive, it is a good idea to keep soil compaction from occurring, thus stifling the root growth. Machine aeration can be done annually in the spring and fall to let your lawn breath. When aerating, you do not want your soil to be too wet or dry, but just moist.

Tip #5 Rake your lawn.
Raking your lawn also allows you to feel the crisp grass underneath the thatch that accumulates on top.

Tip #6 Trim the edges of your yard.
Lawn care involves trimming around the edges and corners of your yard gives it a clean and well-kept appearance year-round. It also adds to the value of the home over time as well.

Tip #7 Never just let it go.
It is much easier to continue maintaining your lawn than to let it go for a while in between care. Once the yard begins to grow up and shrubs begin to become bushy, it is much more of a hassle to get it back into tip-top shape.

By following these simple guidelines, you can actually enjoy lawn care and have the yard of your dreams in no time!

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Kelvin Ho is the webmaster of "TheGreenFingers.com". He enjoys gardening since young. Nothing pleases him more than to see his plants grow well. Visit his site at http://www.thegreenfingers.com to get more gardening and lawn care tips.

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