- Turn on sprinklers or set timers to water between midnight and 8 a.m.

- Every few days but not everyday, water deeply and only when needed.

- If recent rainfall occur,cancel a scheduled watering.

- If a fertilizer has just been applied, only water the lawn lightly.

Watering prevents the grass from becoming dormant during summer’s high temperatures. Proper watering ensures a denser lawn and allows the turf to compete more effectively with weeds. A healthy lawn will also reduce pest problems.Watering should take place before intense sunlight causes too much water to be lost to evaporation. Watering in the early evenings will leave the lawn damp all night, and may increase the lawns susceptibility to fungus and molds. Deep watering encourages deep root growth. However, when fertilizer has just been applied it is better to water lightly to prevent the fertilizer from leaching past the root zone, where it will not be usefull to the grass.

Source: Local Motion

Eco-Friendly lawn care is one of the healthy ways to take care of your lawns. American lawns has generated a large amounts of “green waste”, waste water, require tons of herbicides, and would cost much money and time.

“According to the Audubon Society, the average American lawn generates almost 2 tons of clippings a year, and requires 2½-4 times more water than shrubs or trees. Homeowners use 50% more herbicides than they did 20 years ago, spend 40 hours per week mowing the lawn each year, and spend over $8 billion annually on lawn care products and equipment.”

Here are some more tips for a more Eco-friendly lawn care:

1. Instead of using a conventional gas-powered lawn mowers, use an electric or manual push mower to cut your grass to avoid air pollution and global warming.

“According to Sylvan Garden, “atypical 3.5 horsepower gas mower…can emit the same amount of VOCs—key precursors to smog—in an hour as a new car driven 340 miles. To top it off, lawn and garden equipment users inadvertently add to the problem by spilling 17 million gallons of fuel each year while refilling their outdoor power equipment. That’s more petroleum than spilled by the Exxon Valdez in the Gulf of Alaska.”

2. In maintaining your yard, Use hand tools or electric-powered tools such as hedge trimmer or lawn edger. Don’t use gas-powered tools instead, Use good old fashioned push broom and rakes for yard clean up, instead of noise and air polluting leaf blowers. Don’t use the hose to wash down your driveway or sidewalk, as this is just a waste of water. On the coasts, the leaf and grass clippings end up in the gutter and go down the storm drains, out to the ocean.

3. Diversify your lawn by planting a mix of different grasses–that way, if one variety doesn’t do well or dies, you still have grass that can “take over” for the dead variety. But you can also use organic fertilizer for your lawn.

4. Avoid toxic chemical pesticides and herbicides According to PANNA (http://www.panna.org/campaigns/pesticideFreeLawns.html ) “Every year U.S. homeowners apply at least 90 million pounds of pesticides to their lawns and gardens…pesticides are applied more intensively for lawn care than for farming! One recent survey reported that when informed about the risks posed by lawn chemicals, nearly 70% of homeowners indicate a preference for non-toxic alternatives.

5. Conserve water. Instead of using sprinklers, water your lawn with a hose. This will avoid waste of water from runoff as well as avoid water spills from your sidewalks and driveways.

6. Conserve water. Water your lawn by hand with a hose instead of using timed sprinklers.Water at night to avoid evaporation of water before it has a chance to soak into the ground.

7. Save your grass clippings you can use them as mulch for your yars. It is anything that is put on top of the soil around your trees and shrubs to give nutrients back to the soil, grass clippings, tree bark, leaves and other yard called a “greeen waste” also a food waste from the kitchen ans even shredded newspapers. Mulch breaks down over time an adds up nutrients to the soil. Mulch also prevents soil erosion and hardpan (tough, dried-out topsoil). Make a compost pile and feed it your grass clippings.

8. Research plants that are native to your area and resistant to pests and drought, and replace some or all of your grass with these low-maintenance alternatives. I’ve let the shrubs in front of the house, on one side of the yard, grow down to the front sidewalk, eliminating about 24 square feet of lawn.

Try to follow these simple ideas for your lawn..lesser environmental impact, save money and you can have a healthy green lawn that you always long for.

Let it grow- Mow High - Mower blades be set to 3 inches & Let your lawn grow taller for best way to reduce the use of herbicide. Tall grass could be stress tolerant especially during excessive heat of summer, also provides shade to reduce weed seed germination especially on crab grass and it increases the uptake of water and nutrients due to its larger root structure.

Twice a year mow low – Your lawn should be cut low of 2 inches at least twice a year. First cut in spring and last in fall that prevent fungus from being established on winter.

Give The Grass a Clean Cut – Keep your mower blade sharp, Mow when grass is dry, Mow in the cool part of the afternoon or evening. Mowing whengrrass is wet or with dull blade can cause the tip of the grass to shred that would make your lawn brown and its tips dry out and more susceptible to disease and cutting grass during excessive heat would cause stress to plants.

Mulch Clippings - Leave grass clippings on the lawn. It lowers the needs for fertilizer since important plant nutrients are returned to the soil. Mulching Mower circulates the grass clippings in mowing chamber to make smaller clippings which break down more easily.

Good soil is essential to a healthy lawn. This is one of the most important element for lawn care. Once grass is established, you can aerate and fertilize it, but actual soil base can’t be reworked. If you carefully prepare the soil layer in the beginning, your lawn can start with a good foundation.

Soils come in two basic types: Clay or Sandy. Heavy Soil, called clay or adobe, is easy to recognize but difficult to work with. If you squeeze a handful together, you’ll get a gummy plastic mass that won’t break apart even if you tap it with a shovel. Though clay soil is often rich in nutrients, it contains very little space for air, grass roots may refuse to grow because there is no sufficient supply of oxygen and often they drown because of poor drainage. Clay soils do have an advantage: slow drainage through tiny,compacted particles prevents nutrients from leaching out.

On the other hand, Sandy soil has huge particles that allow good aeration, quick passage of water, and rapid temperature change. Sandy soil provides plenty of air for plant roots, and the roots can spread easily, but here’s the rub: Water will pour right through the soil, taking with it any plant nutrients you’ve applied.

Here are the tips for proper aeration best for your lawn:

* If it is possible, use a coring aerator as opposed to a spike aerator. Spike aerators just further compact the soil while making a hole.

* Water your lawn heavily, up to an inch, the day before you plan on aerating. The soil should be soft and moist when aerating but not muddy.

* Be careful of shallow sprinkler lines getting punctured by the aerator.

* Aerate during spring or fall or also during late summer

* Aerate only twice a year in arid or dry climate.

* Don’t waste your time or money with shoe aerators.

* After core aeration, leave the plugs on the grass and allow them to dry out, then rake the plugs into the grass if you like. If not, don’t worry they will break up after the first mowing and help to breakdown thatch by providing micro organisms that will feed on thatch.