You will find that each grass type has a specific height that is the optimum height for it to be mowed. So, if you mow that grass at that specific height, it would be healthier, it would look better, and far more than that, it would not die of lack of water. Most of the experts believe that the depth of the root system of your lawn grass would be directly proportional to the height of your mowing. This means that the higher you mow your lawn, the deeper the root system will be.

You will find that there are generally two types of grass that we have to consider on the basis of the seasons in which they grow. The first one is Cool Season Grasses. The most common cool season grasses are Fescue, Bluegrass and Ryegrass. The majority of the grasses in the southeast are the cool season grasses. You will find that these grasses should be mowed at a range of three inches to three and a half inches. Fescue is generally mowed to about three inches in height and even though Bluegrass is very much tolerant to low mowing, you should not be mowing it less than two and a half inches in height.

The next type of grass is Warm Season grass. Some of the common grasses of this type are Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede etc. All these grasses could be mowed at a low height of your mower. You would find the maximum use of Bermuda and Zoysia in golf courses. There the grasses are mowed as low as one inch. If you are planning to have these types of grasses, you should mow them at about one to one and a half inches, but you should have a smooth grade, otherwise you have have some scalping problems.

And if you have healthy grass you will want to leave the clippings. A good mulching mower is the best for this. Do not let it get too long before you cut it. And use sharp blades. Dull blades rip the grass instaed of cutting it.

So there you have it. The health of your lawn depends on you. Cut it too low and you will encourage shallow roots and weeds. The proper mowing methods will encourage healthy grass with deep roots. Your lawn will be looking like a carpet!

Mowing Your Lawn is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

For your second feeding you will want to include a post-emergent weed killer. This will help to kill some of the weeds that did come up. This should be a couple of weeks after the first feeding.

Just a word of caution. This plan is not for new lawns or reseeded lawns. And on the post-emergent try to keep it away from established bushes, flowers, and other things that you do not want to kill! As with anything: “Read and follow all instructions”!

And more is not better with fertilizer. Use the recommended amount only. And do not put it down after the end of May.

What I do is keep some weed killer in a pump sprayer and evry week or so take a walk around the lawn and spot shoot the weeds. And you don’t have to do the whole lawn. Just a little at a time. And the same caution. Read and follow the directions.

I did want to mention cutting. Do not cut your lawn too short. That encourages weed growth. Your grass should be 3 1/2 to 4 inches tall.

So there you have it. A good weed control plan. The most important things are to keep a healthy thick lawn. And try to stay ahead of the weeds.

Lawn Care: Weed Control is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

There are two types of watering to consider. The first is for new lawns. If you have just planted seed you will want to water a munimum of three times a day. Morning, noon, and at night. Your goal is to keep the seeds and soil MOIST. You do not want too much water. The seed will wash away.

The second is for established lawns. You must water deep. Do not think that you are doing your lawn any favors by wateing for 15 minutes. These type of shallow watering encouge the root system to be shallow. This is unhealthy. You want to encourage a deep root system. And you do that by watering deep. You should probably water for around an hour, every other day. Of course all watering methods are different, so you may have to run some tests. Try to get the soil damp 4 to 6 inches below the surface. And just like any other plant, you want to give it a chance to dry up a little before watering again. And obviously where you live, the weather, and your soil conditions will have an effect.

Always water your lawn early in the morning, or before noon. You will want to give it a chance to dry out before nightfall. Wet grass during the night encourages fungus. And fungus is very hard to get rid of. And it can also be very expensive. You could spend hundreds of dollars per month and still not get rid of it. Prevention is better than the cure in this case.

And again there are different circumstances that will determine your watering schedule. Just keep the two main points in mind. You want to water deep to encourage deep root growth and you want to give the lawn a chance to dry out before you water again. Before you know it you will have a lawn that looks like a carpet!

Proper Watering of Your Lawn is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

To start your education, we start with the main ingredients of fertilizer: nitrogen, phosphate and potash. Obviously, if fertilizer contains these three ingredients, they must have some specific functions. You need balanced diet to remain healthy and the same applies to your lawn also. Fertilizing would involve the administration of all these constituents but in different amounts. Your lawn would need nitrogen in the maximum amount as it helps in fast growth, gives it dark color and also thickens the grass. But what would happen if you just go on giving lots of nitrogen and not enough phosphate and potash? The direct result would be too much top growth and in addition to that it would also mean less than sufficient root growth and less than desired capacity for recovery.

So, you need to have a balanced fertilizing program-a fertilizing program which would include all the three ingredients in the proper amount and also micro-nutrients. You should understand that micro-nutrients are nothing but minerals like iron, manganese, boron, zinc etc and even though these are not needed that much, these still have their own place in grass growth. Your soil might have some of the micro-nutrients but you would have to provide those micro-nutrients that the soil is deficient in.

This translates into the fact that you would have to get a soil test done. And when you have received the results of the soil test, you should administer the suggested fertilizers that were recommended in the suggested amounts. More is not better where fertilizing is concerned. You might find very good top growth but that is deceptive. It won’t have the same effect on the root system and it might also cause ecological problems. Over fertilizing might contaminate nearby lakes or streams (runoff problem) and that might ultimately harm the entire ecosystem.

The best time of fertilizing is thirty days before the growing season. And you should go on fertilizing after every sixty days or so throughout the growing season. That would help your lawn grass to grow well. And it would also allow your grass to remain healthy and thick. That has a direct impact on the growth of weeds. The stronger your lawn grass is the more resistant it would be to weeds. Thus, fertilizing would also help your in fighting weeds.

To summarize, we have seen the results of fertilizing and some of the technical details of fertilizing.

Lawn Care and Fertilizing is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

There are several different types of fungus that can grow in your lawn, all which grow in relation to the amount of water that is in your yard, as well as the type of climate that gives them room to flourish.  Fungus may also have an opportunity to grow if your soil isn’t balanced from fertilizer or compost at the beginning of the season.  Some types of popular fungus include mushrooms, mildew, dollar spots, and fairy rings.  These are a few of several types of fungus that can move into your lawn.  Some ways to notice the fungus is through patches of yellow, red, or orange in your lawn.  Other types of fungus will begin to spread from the tips of the grass, causing brown blades to form.

No matter what type of fungus begins to take over your lawn, it is known that they can eventually spread over your entire lawn, taking the nutrients and moisture that is needed for your grass.  Because of this, there are ways to prevent the fungus from appearing and taking over your lawn.

1.  Keep your lawn dry.  Most fungus will begin to form after the winter is over or during the fall.  If extra snow is not drying on your lawn or if there is too much shade, it gives a perfect spot for fungus to grow.  By removing snow that won’t melt you can prevent some of the fungus that will grow in your lawn.  Before the winter arrives, you can also make sure to cut your grass down in order to make sure that the grass stays aerated and doesn’t keep the moisture locked into the grass.  If it is spring and fungus is beginning to grow, it is probably because the water isn’t drying during the days that you water.  Make sure to water in the morning so that the grass has time to dry during the day from the sun.  If it is not going to be warm and sunny that day, it is best to wait to water until you know that the water will be dried from the sun.

2.   Kill the fungus with different products.  There are several different types of natural ingredients that will take the moisture out of the fungus that you have in your yard.  One type of ingredient is baking powder mixed with water.  You can spray this over the area where the fungus is.  The baking powder will act as a neutralizing agent to get rid of the fungus.  You can also use plain corn meal by spreading it over the area where the fungus is.  If you choose to use one of these ingredients, make sure you know what type of fungus is in your yard first, then use the proper type of ingredient in order to get rid of the fungus.

3.   Prepare the soil to prevent fungus.  Before laying fertilizer or soil in the spring, or before you have put in new sod, it is best to make sure that it has some type of preventative ingredient from fungus.  This, as well as mulching will balance out the nutrients in the soil in order to prevent fungus from appearing.  Often times, it is best to make sure that there is enough nitrogen in your soil and grass.  If there is too much nitrogen, or not enough, it will often cause problems with fungus having room to grow.  Things such as greensand or glauconitic can be purchased in order to balance out your soil again.

In order to keep your lawn looking healthy and green throughout the seasons, it is best to find ways to prevent different types of fungus from overtaking your lawn.  This can be done through simple maintenance of making sure that the soil, water and grass all remains balanced and healthy.

Fungus Fever : Three Ways to Protect your Lawn from Fungal Growth is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

The measurements that have been made for cutting grass have been averaged out for several reasons.  The main purpose of this is that allowing this much length in your grass allows nutrients to continue to move through each blade.  When the blades of grass are growing, they take a certain amount of soil, water and sun in order to grow properly.  When you cut the tips of this off, they have to adjust how much of the nutrients they should continue to get.  If this change is too drastic, it will cause problems with the grass.

This moves into the second reason as why you should not cut the blades of grass too short.  Because of the change in size and nutrients, cutting blades too short will stress out the plants.  This is because they have to adjust to the different length.  The second type of stress that they receive from the shorter blades is if the weather is hotter, the blades will not have enough protection provided from the length that they once had.  Too much of a difference in blade length can then cause problems by either causing brown patches, wilting, or grass burn.

A third reason why it is always good to only cut this much off, and consistently, is because each time you cut your grass, it grows back thicker and faster.  If you only cut the grass by a third, it will continue to be able to receive the same amount of nutrients and sun.  By doing this, it will be able to grow back at a faster pace, turning even more green and filling out space more than it did before.

On the maintenance side, you won’t have to remove as many grass clippings when you don’t cut as much off.  It is known to be healthy to leave some of the grass clippings that you have cut on the grass, as this provides more nutrients as well as protection to the growth of the other grass blades.  With this in mind, if you leave too many grass clippings, it will take away the sunlight and water that the plants are supposed to be receiving.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the grass should not be mowed when the grass is wet.  This causes a spreading of diseases, as the dampness that is on the blades of grass can not be evaporated, and eventually begins to mold or turn into a disease.  Mowing with wet grass may also cause you to slip and injure yourself.  The best time to mow a lawn is in the early evening.  This will prevent the grass from getting stressed.  The sun in the afternoon usually stresses out the grass and the mowing in the afternoon will only add to this.

Grass should always remain at a length between three and three and a half inches.  When it begins to move past three and a half inches is the best time to mow the grass.  Beyond this, you should never take off more than one third of the blade.  If grass is not mowed at the right height, it can cause problems with stress, nutrients, and diseases spreading throughout your lawn.  By cutting your grass at the right height, and mowing when it is over three and a half inches tall, you will not only keep your lawn healthy, but you will also provide a better looking, greener lawn.

How Low Can You Go? Why Cutting your Lawn Short is Hazardous for its Health is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

Schedule when to put fertilizer in.  Depending on the region in which you live, the climate you have, and the type of soil which you are dealing with, your lawn will need to have fertilizer put in at different times of the year.  Some of the fertilizer provides the best nutrients in the spring, where the nutrients can be soaked into the soil for the season.  Other types of fertilizer is best put in before the winter season as it will provide nutrients to the grass throughout the ice season when your grass is getting ready to hibernate for the winter.  If you schedule out the right times for your lawn fertilizing maintenance, it will allow for better growth throughout the season.

Using weed control fertilizers.  There are several different types of fertilizers that can be put in the ground for the main purpose of eliminating weeds from your yard.  By doing this, you will have to do less maintenance on your lawn when weeds start to show up on your grass.  It will also prevent weeds from slowly appearing throughout your yard and taking the nutrients that are intended for the grass.  By applying weed control at the same time as regular fertilizer, it will help provide more nutrients for your grass.

Spread the fertilizer evenly.  There are spreaders available in order to spread the fertilizer evenly throughout your entire yard.  If this is not done, it will cause grass burn in some places from too much fertilizer being placed, and not enough fertilizer in other places will cause more weed growth, and less nutrients to be able to go to the grass, causing brown patches.  This is especially important if your yard is sloped, as the unevenness can cause problems in how much fertilizer is put in each area.

Know how much fertilizer to apply.  It’s important to know the pH of your soil, as well as the type of soil that you have.  You can measure the type of soil by seeing the thickness which it has.  The soil can be anything from sandy, to silt, loam, or clay.  By knowing the texture and thickness of your soil, you will be able to tell exactly what kind of fertilizer you should apply and how much of it you will need in order to change the balance of your soil and allow for more growth and greener grass from your lawn.  By measuring out how much fertilizer you need, it will help to prevent a lack of nutrients or too much fertilizer throughout your yard, which can cause problems.

By knowing what type of yard you have, as well as knowing how much fertilizer to apply and when the best time to apply it is, you will be able to have greener grass and a better, healthier lawn throughout the year.  If you choose not to fertilize your yard, it can cause several problems, such as brown patches, a lack in nutrients, weeds, and problems with water being absorbed into the ground.  Fertilizer is known to help the yard to look greener and have better nutrients year round.

Banish that Brown : Five Fertilizing Tips for a Perfect Lawn is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

Beyond the bacteria getting into the water, are other types of diseases or infections that can occur from not picking up the pet deposits.  Skin infections and the spread of other kinds of diseases may not only occur with your pet, but also in your household.  One popular disease that spreads easily through pet feces is several different types of worms.  The best way for these diseases and infections to not occur is by continuously picking up the pet’s deposits.

A third reason why it is important to pick up after your pet is because the waste is not as degradable as other types of waste.  If you have a lawn or if you are taking your pet to a public area, it won’t help the grass or other types of plants.  The nutrients in the deposits don’t have the right type of fertilizer that would normally balance out the soil.  Instead, it causes problems with either natural habitats or in the yard.  By not picking up after your pet, the aeration to your yard or to any other type of plant will be blocked from receiving other proper nutrients, water and sunlight, causing either problems with fungus, weeds, or causing the lawn or plants to eventually die.

If your animal is an indoor animal, it can often cause behavior problems by not picking up the deposits.  The animal will think it is ok to break their training habits of going outside or using the litter box.  Pets respond to smell.  Because of this, they will think it is permissible to break their training and avoid the places where they should be for their pet deposits.

Because the chore at hand is not always pleasant, there are several different ways to complete the chore of cleaning up after your pet without having to do much work.  There are several companies who will clean up after your pets for a small fee every week.  They will then take the feces that they pick up from your yard and take them to a local waste area to dispose of.  There are several different types of deals and ways that you can organize this service, depending on the types of animals that you have and how many animals you have.

Another option in cleaning up pet deposits is to put in an in ground septic system.  This is buried inside of your ground and will break down the waste.  The pet deposits will then be broken down through the septic system, taking away the enzymes that can cause several of the diseases.  While you still have to pick up some of the waste, it can be ensured that there won’t be as much of a bacteria problem.

No matter what type of pet you have, or where you take them to make their deposit, it is important to pick up after them.  By doing so, you will prevent several different types of diseases, behavioral problems and will keep the plants and your lawn looking healthy and free of disease.  If you don’t like to pick up after your animal, there are several companies who will come to your house for a small fee to help with the chore.  By cleaning up after your pet, you will be ensuring your health, as well as others.

Pet Deposits : Why Cleaning up after your Pet is Important is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

There is a simple test you can perform to figure out if your lawn is in need of aeration. Take a screwdriver out to your lawn when the soil is moderately moist. Attempt to probe the screwdriver into the soil. If it is very difficult to do, then you likely need to aerate right away. On the other hand, if there is just a little resistance, then there is no compaction problem and you do not need to aerate.

Getting your home lawn aerated, though not always a common practice, is not very expensive. In fact, the simplest and cheapest way to do it is to use a spading fork. Push the tines into the soil as far as you can then rock them back and forth. This is not the best way to aerate, but for lack of another way the tines will create space for the circulation and will loosen the soil. Because of the work involved, it is really only a method that works for small areas of lawn.

Another small lawn solution for aeration is to spend a few dollars and purchase a sod-coring tool. The sod-coring tool actually removes cores of soil and deposits them on the lawn. The plugs that are left behind are as helpful to your lawn as the holes themselves. The plugs bring microorganisms up from below that can help decompose the thatch that may have developed in your grass.

What, though, if you have a larger yard? In the case of a large yard, the two manual methods would be just too labor intensive. The answer is a power-driven core aerator. You can rent one at your local home or garden store. The machine takes hollow tubes and drives them into the lawn. Cores of soil are removed and left over the lawn. Some will, instead, have spoon shaped tines that perform the same task essentially. Leave the plugs on the lawn, but you can rake them in if you don’t like the way they look laying on the grass.

No matter which method you use for aeration, there is a technique to it. First, go over the entire lawn in one direction, like if you were mowing. Then, go over another direction, perpendicular to what you had just done. Using this method to go over the entire lawn twice will give you the best results when aerating.

If you have a bare area in your yard or a part where the grass is just sparse, then you may want to combine seeding and aerating to get the good lawn results you want. If you choose to combine aerating with seeding, then you should go over the lawn six or ten times. There should be a lot of holes in the area you are seeding. Then, give the holes about a month so they can begin to heal so that you don’t get speckled looking grass. Then, simply put out your seed, keep it watered, and you are on your way to a healthy and new looking lawn.

Aeration is an important, and often overlooked, part of lawn care. Golf courses and sports field maintenance teams do it all the time, but for some reason it gets neglected by homeowners. The process of aerating your lawn is not expensive, but can help you to a healthy lawn and help you avoid many problems you likely blamed on other things in the past.

Tips for Aerating your Lawn to Health is a post from: Easy Green Lawn

The best example can be of a lawn which is very thin and requires getting thickened. You can easily achieve it by aerating and over seeding. You can start with mowing the grass as low as you can mow without any problem. The depth should be about one inch or so. What this does is that it stunts the grass and also slows down its growth rate. This allows the new grass that you would plant; grow without any competition from the pre-existing grass. After that you would have to take help of an aerator.

An aerator you would find is a machine that digs holes in the ground and also removes the core of the soil. You would have to use the aerators at least twice all through the lawn. You need holes, lots of them in your lawn. When you are finished with the aerator, you must not be able to see the distance between two holes getting about six inches. You should go on with the aerator as many times as it takes to dig holes everywhere in the lawn. If any area remains neglected, you won’t have good grass coverage in that area.

Once you are satisfied with the aerating portion, you start with the seeding part. And don’t be a miser with the seeds. According to general estimates, for every acre of your lawn you would have to use at least 35 lbs. It comes out to be 8 lbs per thousand square feet. And these statements must have taught you one very important thing about your lawn care. You need to be very accurate about the length and width of your lawn because most of the lawn care tips would depend on the dimensions of your lawn.

You would need a seed spreader to spread seeds in your lawn (no throwing by hands). You should divide the seeds into two equal halves and spread one half from one side and the remaining half from the opposite side in cross hatch pattern. That ensures even coverage. After that you need a drag and with the help of it drag the entire length and width of the lawn. It would drag the seeds into the holes created by the aerator. And it would also break up any plugs that might have been left behind by the aerator. This would cover most of the seeds and the direct result would be a thicker and healthier establishment of the lawn grass.

To have good establishment of lawn grass, you would need a regular fertilization schedule and good mowing practices. And if you take care of your lawn, there is no reason why you would not have the establishment of lawn grass.

Establishment of Lawn Grass is a post from: Easy Green Lawn