Considering that green lawn care today accounts for a huge percentage of domestic water usage, it is apparent that lawn maintenance is a chore that drains not only water, but the owner’s money in water bills. To minimize this, the homeowner should try to position his lawn on places where the lawn can benefit from direct rainfall. During seed selection, one should also go for the drought-resistant types to minimize water use. Mulch also helps in green lawn care since the rate of direct sunshine hitting the ground is minimal thus reducing the rate of soil moisture evaporation.

Mowing is a vital exercise in green lawn care. Grass cycling is especially useful in ensuring that the turf is not only green, but tougher too. This is achieved by using mulching blades on the mower as opposed to the standard mower blade. Grass cycling also eliminates the need to use chemical fertilizers on the lawn since it provides sufficient nitrogen for the lawn. In addition, the mulch covers the earth and therefore helps cut the water requirements of the lawn considerably.

Effective green lawn care involves understanding the right lawn watering methods. Having noted that lawns account for a huge percentage of domestic water use, it is also worthy noting that most of this water goes to waste. This happens because of raid water application or watering the lawn too often. Rapid water application means that the ground does not get sufficient time to absorb the water. As such, a large amount of the water is wasted as runoff. Watering at the wrong time, especially when the sun is overhead means that the water moisture is lost to evaporation without benefiting the lawn much. As opposed to this type of watering, the homeowner should learn to water the lawn early in the morning or late in the evening to allow the earth to absorb as much water.

Green lawn care also involves controlling pests that may affect the healthy growth of the turf. The first step towards this is ensuring that the soil in the lawn is healthy. The healthy soil will be able to withstand lawn diseases and insect infestation. It also encourages beneficial insects such as ground beetles, green lacewings and praying mantis on the lawn. Such keep the harmful insects that damage lawns away. Caring for a green lawn also requires one to de-thatch. A thatch higher than ½ inches is a nemesis to any homeowner’s effort at keeping the lawn green. As such, the homeowner needs to rake the lawn to remove the excess thatch. When all is done, the reward of all the effort one puts into caring for the green lawn is that he or she will have a beautiful lawn, which will probably be the envy of many.

The first spring lawn care that one should take at the onset of the season is raking. Yeah, yeah! It might not be the most entertaining engagement, but it is necessary. Raking is important to control thatch build up, which should not be allowed to be more than ½ inch. This kind of raking is not the shallow one intended to scrap off the leaves, but the deep-penetrative raking that reaches to the grass blades that fell during winter and fall. Raking also removes the matted patches of dead grass blades.

The next spring lawn care hint involves checking soil for compaction. Some of the signs to look out for include moss plants or patches of lawn where the turf has stunted growth. Such is most likely to happen in lawn sections subjected to too much human or animal activity. Remember however that aeration is recommended during fall. However, noting compaction in spring would allow the homeowner to make aeration plans for fall.

Spring lawn care should also involve liming. Natural turf grows well on soils that have neutral PH. Too much acidity in the soil can be manifested through moss plants. One can also detect the same through soil tests. The tests will also indicate how much lime should be applied on each square foot. Liming restores the soil’s neutral pH albeit slowly. The lawn is best applied using a spreader. Homeowners should however know that lime is only beneficial as a corrective measure. As such, it should only be used on soils that are too acidic. Otherwise, it will increase the alkalinity of the soil, causing more problems to the lawn.

Over seeding is also another helpful spring lawn care pointer that aids homeowners to correct the bare patches on the lawns. This involves applying grass seeds on the patches. When they germinate, the home owner should use a nitrogen fertilizer to speed up growth. This practice is best done in fall. However, in dire cases when a home owner needs to even-out the lawn, over seeding can also be done in spring. If the weed problem is mild, the homeowner can opt to pull them out instead of using chemicals on the lawn.

Fertilizing the lawn is done naturally by the mulch and compost released after mowing. However, some homeowners still see the need to use chemical fertilizers. The home owners should use fertilizers moderately during this season, as too much of it can encourage the growth of weeds.  Should the weed problem persist, a homeowner can choose any of the available herbicides to control the weeds. Finally, spring lawn care involves a lot of mowing. To ensure that one mows their lawn properly, they should invest in quality mowers with adjustable blades. One should also ensure that the blades are sharp enough before starting the mowing exercise.

Among the most the valuable lawn care tips is mowing the lawn to an ideal height.  The homeowner should remember that any plant uses the leaves to synthesize nutrients. Without a good enough number of leaves, it fails to produce enough nutrients for its own sustenance. When this happens, the grass grows thin, and weeds can easily grow because of the thinned grass blades.

Avoiding too much mowing at once is also among the lawn care tips that homeowners should take seriously. As opposed to the close mowing that most people think is good, lawns should be mowed more frequently. The 1/3 rule should always be followed, such that no more than a third of the grass blade is mowed at any one time.

Another amongst the lawn care tips that people should have at their fingertips, is watering wisely. This means that the owner should ensure that the water is adequate to get to the grass’s roots. However, one should also realize that too much water is not good for the grass. Some of the signs to look out for include a wilt or a bluish hue on the grass. This automatically means that the grass needs to be watered immediately.

Some people take the sharpness of the mower blades for granted while in fact, it is among the vital lawn care tips that should be upheld. This is because the state of the blades affects the edge that one attains during mowing. When using mulching blades for example, it is extremely important for them to be sharp.

Another vital point among the lawn care tips is the need to leave the clipped grass on the lawn. This eventually breaks down to mulch and eventually acts as fertilizer to the lawn. If the grass is too long however, the clippings can create unsightly rows of cut brown grass. To avoid this, the person mowing should use the bag attachment on the mower to collect the clipped grass.

Improving the soil quality is also among the lawn care tips that each homeowner should strive to do. This can be done through using soil activators to increase beneficial organisms such as microbes and earthworms in the lawn. One should also consider aerating the soil should the soil become too compact.  Considering that fungicides and insecticides contain chemicals that may harm the lawn, homeowners should only treat the affected parts of the lawn. Alternatively, one should consider other non-chemical solutions available in the market today.

Another invaluable lawn care tips that people tend to ignore concerns the different seasons, and the effect that those seasons have on the lawn. During spring for example, one should lay fresh mulch on the lawn to discourage the growth of weeds. During this season, one also needs to mow the lawn more often. In summer however, the lawn needs to be watered more frequently, and the mower should be adjusted to alleviate the stress that comes with the hot weather.

Organic lawn care also involves buying organic fertilizers sold in specific organic retail stores. The commercial organic fertilizers are based on proteins, which the lawn digests first in order to access the nitrogen content in the same. Unlike chemical-based fertilizers, the organic fertilizers can be applied any time, season or day without fearing that one will hurt the turf. It however takes a minimum of three weeks before the homeowner starts seeing the benefits of the fertilizer on the lawn.

Organic lawn care suppresses disease, prevents the loss of nutrients, aids in the production of turf growth regulators, aids in developing soil structure and even cleans up chemical residues from chemical fertilizer use. In addition, this type of lawn care controls nitrogen supply to the lawn depending with the turf’s need for the same. The organic fertilizers also shift the pH of the soil towards neutral. The home owner should however avoid the direct use of fresh manure on the turf. This should be substituted with compost.

Commencing the organic lawn care is simply done through stopping the use of chemical-based fertilizers and substituting them with compost. During spring, the homeowner should apply a protein-based organic fertilizer before the turf starts turning lush. In fall, the same should be applied at least three weeks before the turf stops growing. In summer however, the homeowner should not use any organic fertilizers on the lawn. He or she should however ensure that the lawn is watered regularly.

With organic lawn care, one does not need to use chemical aeration because the soil microbes contained in the compost usually aerate the soil. These microbes help in maintaining a natural till, which means that the soil is softer and able to retain water better. Organic lawn care is made much easier because the home owner does not need to worry about thatch control. The microbes contained in the soil eat thatch into mulch, which is converted to beneficial compost for use in the lawn.

Controlling disease organic lawn care practices requires one to find the specific organic solution for each disease. For fungal infestations, the homeowner should find the beneficial fungus to counter the pathogenic fungus. Beetles can be controlled by spraying nematodes on the lawn, while the loss of color on some lawn patches can be rectified by using more nitrogen-rich organic fertilizers.

Weed control in organic lawn care is done by allowing the lawn to grow to a long-enough height to create maximum density. The weeds that sprout on the lawn can be hand-picked or mowed off. Overall, organic care needs the home owner to know the different organic substitutes available for chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pest control measures. In the long run, an organic program is worth so much more, especially because it controls environmental pollution.

The providers of the lawn care services can be consulted as soon as one decides to have a lawn. As such, the homeowner can discuss with the service providers the desired quality of the lawn, activities to be carried out on the lawn and the amount of investment that one is willing to commit to planting and maintaining the lawn. The service providers can also be contacted about an already existing lawn. One of the first things that the service providers do is test the soil. This enables them to determine the kind of soil amendments needed in order to ensure that the lawn is healthy. The results of the soil test also enable the service providers to pick high quality seeds or sod for use in the lawn.

No two lawns are alike. This fact is well known to the lawn care services providers because they understand the different water requirements of the different grass used for the lawns. They also know the different water needs for each lawn during the different seasons. For example, lawns made of the blue grama grass or the buffalo grass can remain green for several weeks during summer without watering. However a blue grass lawn will need frequent watering during the same period. The advantage of using the lawn care services over one’s limited lawn maintenance knowledge is the fact that the service providers know the different types of soils and their watering needs. Most home owners have automatic sprinklers that may lead to application of too much or too little water on the lawn.

Lawn care services providers also advise the homeowner about the ideal mowing height and the frequency of mowing. Most service providers recommend the height to be a maximum of three inches and a minimum of two inches. Mowing too close to the ground decreases the lawn’s heat tolerance and drought resistance. Little ground cover by the grass also increases the incidences of weeds and diseases. The service providers also know the ideal mowers to use for the different types of lawns.

Lawn care services experts are also knowledgeable on ways of handling and controlling thatch in fine fescue, bent grass and Kentucky bluegrass lawns. If left to accumulate beyond a particular point, thatch becomes the main hold for the roots. This makes the lawn prone to winter kill or stress during summer. In addition, too much accumulation of thatch increases the possibility of weed growth, insect manifestation and disease on the lawn. Some of the popular methods of thatch removal used lawn care services providers are power raking and aerating.  Fertilizer application is also a common service offered. Through this, the lawn caretakers apply nitrogen to the turf, thus promoting growth and good lawn