Watering – This is the very first important component for lawn care. Water is not just important for human beings but also very much needed by your lawns. At least 6 to 8 inches of deep into the soil is required to deeply penetrate it to its roots to grow. This may also have different variations according to the type of soil. To have a healthy lawn, grass should not be left dry. Water your lawn early in the morning before the sun rise so it wont easily evaporate and will make a cooling effect to the grass especially during the season of summer.

Mowing – This component helps grass expand more and grow healthy. However, it should not be cut down too short,it should maintain regular length for the grass to easily absorb nutrients and grow thicker so as not to be susceptible to lawn diseases or weeds. The recommended time to mow your lawn is during its growing period. For cool season grasses, it would be best to maintain 3 inches tall and 2.5 inches tall for warm season grasses. But during the season of summer, let it stay long to serve as shade for the soil.

Fertilizing – the most basic component is feeding your lawn to protect them diseases and maintain its nutrients. Spreading granular fertilizer would promote healthy growth at least two times annually. Or if you choose to go organic it will also be best for the lawn.

Aerating – In traffic areas from your lawn, it needs to aerate for the soil to breath and absorb enough nutrients, That will enrich them to grow and produce green lush grass. Aerating it periodically will best for the lawn.

De-thatching – As most people do believe that it composed of grass clippings but a true thatch is compose of culms and crowns that dried out normally. This helps also save water in soil because they block evaporation process.but too much thatch is not also good since it hinders air and water to the soil. Therefore, it is best to de-thatch the excess of it.

Weeding – This is the process wherein you can detect easily that your grass needs your help. It means it is weak when you see lots of weeds grow in your lawn. This shows that you have cut down grass too short that water in your soil is logged.

Fighting Disease – A sick lawn simply shows that your lawn is being invade by pests. When this happens, you should take immediate action, order to eliminate pests within your lawn. They should be treated with pesticides or fungicide to stop them from attacking to your lawn.

Image Source: Greenline Company

Watering your lawn is considered one of the most essential factor for best lawn care. All of us is aiming to have a healthy, green, lush lawn and to attain this, we must learn proper way and the best time to water it.

Daybreak or just before dawn – The most recommended time to water your lawn since evaporation is minimal and sunrise will make your lawn dry quickly thus this will prevent your grass to moisten and prone to diseases.

Daytime – Also a best time to water your lawn but only kind amount and be sure it could soak down to its roots for good absorption. And make sure grass blades would dry fast to prevent diseases but one top disadvantage is it will take lots of water then evaporation will take away a portion of it before it can be absorbed by your grass roots.

Nighttime - For those busy career oriented people, we choose this time to water our lawn because we are busy during the day. But major disadvantage of this is that it could be prone to diseases since there will be no sunlight to make the grass blades dry so it will moisten all night,water will stay on its grass blade overnight that could attract disease.

Aiming for a beautiful healthy lawn needs a lot of effort and strategy. Any kind of lawn care could be possible as long as you are doing the right thing for your lawn’s good health. Here are 5 easy steps for your lawn care guide that will help you yield good results:

1. Mow efficiently – This does not only require cutting of your grass to its required height but also depends on mowing at the right time of the year. In mowing your lawn, it should not be less than one-third of its height for the efficient absorption of the sun. This should consume the right amount of light from the sun that is needed by the grass to develop a healthy plant. After mowing, your mowed grass should be left on the lawn to decompose as fertilizer that would be best for your lawn.

2. Use a sharp blade – It is important for your lawn to use sharp blade when cutting grass so it will not tear grass that would make your grass unhealthy easy to catch diseases and difficult to fight off pests. Few days after mowing, check on your grass very well especially the tip of it. If you can see brown lines on its tips, then you should make a move to get rid of those unhealthy signs.

3. Regulate water supply – The right irrigation system could help you prevent lawn problems especially the growth of pests on your lawn. Too much water would not do good for your lawn. On the average,grasses only need weekly water supply of 1-1.5 inches. that would just be enough for the clay to moistened, 4-6 inches below the surface and 8-10 inches for sandy soil. Rain Guage is the most advised in determining water supply during rain also to regulate the proper amount.

4. Keep fertilizers and pesticides at normal levels – Overfeeding your lawn with chemicals is very harmful. Be always prepared most especially during seasons of spring, summer, early fall & after the first fall be sure to provide it with balanced amount of fertilizer.. then on drought, you can skip summer feeding but not fall feeding.

5. Prevent, rather than cure – In Lawn care, you can also apply the statement that says prevention is better than cure. Regular feeding of your lawn could save its life from bugs and pests as well as diseases this could also help repair bare spots and you can use right herbicides to help you control and manage growth of weeds.

Maintaining proper care for your lawn is this easy but it also requires your proper attention for you to make things right in whatever strategy for the best of your lawn care.

Pointers that may help you solve any watering problems you might encounter:

- The best time to water your lawn is early morning or late at night when there’s no wind and when water pressure will be high.

- If you live in an arid climate where water shortages could occur, but you still want a lawn, consider planting more drought-tolerant grasses. If you live in a coll-season area, try tall fescue varieties. In a warm-season area, plant Bermuda grasses, St. Augustine or zosia grasses.

- If you have a water runoff problem due to heavy clay soil or dry subsoil, you can have the lawn aerated with an aerator that removes plugs of soil. but spiking soil is not recommended since the spikes are  compact the soil around the holes they drive.  Other solutions to runoff problems include slowing down the delivery rate of your sprinkler so the soil can absorb the water, or selecting a sprinkler that emits water more slowly. Another good solution is to run sprinkler at full rate until runoff starts, shut them off for a half hour so the soil can absorb the water then repeat the process.

- An observant turf gardener may be able to judge when lawn needs water by its appearance. Grass shows its need for water first by loss of resilience. When you walk accross it, the grass doesn’t spring back. Next, the color changes from fresh green and takes on a dull, gray green overcast. Then grass tops turn brown and die.  Once you can sense this timing, try to water just before the loss of resilience. Don’t let your lawn get to the brown stage, it will take considerable time to come back from the crowns.

Everybody is dreaming of a healthy and perfect lawn at home. Especially for those living in a cool season grasses rule. But, not every lawn needs a complete renovation. Maybe others just needed an extra care with tender loving. For cool season lawns & planting seed, early fall could be the best time to finish such a renovation then spring for a warm season grass and you can do laying new sod, plugs or sprigs, almost anytime during the growing season. Here are the six essential steps to follow:

1. Test the Soil – Investigating the soil is very important before removing your old lawn and that the soil has adequate nutrients and proper pH ideal for the grass to grow. Once you had undergo thorough test on the soil, you will exactly know what to do for a best possible place for your lawn to grow.

2. Remove the old lawn – these requires an average strength to help haul away the remains of the old loan.

3. Preparing the Site - Remove all rocks and expose all the roots. Large visible rocks must be dig up and tree roots be put down below soil level if it is a problem as well. With the sod removed and taken away from the site, rocks removed, holes filled, you’ll want to start adding the necessary amendments. You’ll probably want to add some sand (about 3 cubic yards per 1,000 square feet). To better condition the soil, add aged compost. This will add a lot of bio-mass to the soil (about 3 cubic yards per 1,000 square feet).

4. Tilling it in and Fertilizing - Turn the soil until there are no big clumps or patches of packed earth. with a rotary tiller and add lime, peat moss, or sulfur to balance the soil’s pH level. Spread peat moss with shovel, you can use pelletized lime or sulfur, to spread with a walk-behind spreader set to the appropriate calibration rate listed. And spread a starte fertilizer to the whole area using. Using a metal rake you can work on the fertilizer in one place. Finish grading the soil by raking it level. Pay attention to drainage slopes being careful not to alter the natural drainage pattern.

5. Spread the seed - Select a grass type that would fit in your area. With a simple hand sprinkler, apply the seed as evenly use a walk behind spreader.

6. Water regularly – When seed is sown, Don’t just spray your lawn with a hose nozzle.3 times a day to keep the soil evenly moist, but not soaked. Avoid over watering.Once the seed has sprouted, cut back watering to once a day (depending on local weather). It’s best to water in the morning.

- 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.