Lawn Care Tips

-Aeration: Aerating your lawn can help oxygen reach the roots of your grass. Normally, soil has tiny air pockets that provide this oxygen, but your yard can become compact due to sports, kids, mowing and animals. You can aerate with spikes, but they can actually contribute to compaction. The recommended method is core aeration, which takes small plugs of soil from your yard.

-Fertilize: Fertilizing may not be necessary if you mow your yard often. Providing the lawn with too much fertilizer can actually give your grass a shallow root system and cause more problems. If you do use a fertilizer, use it sparingly and only if you need to tackle a major weed problem. One of the best things you can do to fertilize your yard is to leave grass clippings when you mow.

-Mow: Mowing on a regular schedule can help keep your lawn healthy. Do not let the grass get so tall that you will need to cut more than half of the blade height. Cutting off too much of the grass can damage it, causing it to turn brown or even die. Make sure your mower blades are sharpened every season to avoid ugly, brown, jagged tops. Do not mow in the heat of the day because grass will be sensitive to heat for a couple of hours after being cut.

-Compost: Compost dry leaves and yard clippings along with other organic waste to create your own fertilizer. Compost is great for your flower beds, tree growth and makes good filler for holes in your lawn. Not only will you save money, but you will save quite a few lawn bags and the environment.

-Problem Areas: Sloping areas in your yard can be a big problem. Some people try for years to grow grass on slopes, but it just keeps washing downhill. Talk to a nursery or landscaper in your area about native plants that have deep roots. They will anchor themselves to the slope better than grass and usually require very little maintenance.

-Water: You may not have to water your lawn often unless you live in a very hot or arid climate. Water your grass in the morning so that water has time to soak in before the sun can evaporate it. Watering mid-day is just about useless. Watering in the evening can over-saturate the lawn, causing root rot and other problems. Water your grass deeply and less often for optimal lawn health. Keep a hose reel handy for easy watering so that watering does not become a chore that you want to avoid.

About the Author: Stacy Pessoney is an award winning author and writer of web content for many different web sites. She is well versed in many different areas, including gardening, hose reel, lawn care and landscaping.

Helping Your Lawn Achieve Its Potential: Aerate!

Who doesn’t love a nice, lush, green lawn for entertaining, relaxing, and simply admiring? While it is true that is hard work maintaining a beautiful and healthy lawn, its benefits are immeasurable and well worth the blood sweat and tears. While everyone knows it is essential that a lawn be well hydrated, most homeowners neglect an essential part of lawn maintenance that allows the precious water do its job more fully, namely, aeration. Aeration not only promotes growth, it will help ensure that your lawn is thicker, grows faster, and healthier than ever!

The main objective of aeration is to create a situation where the grass roots penetrate more deeply into the soil while allowing essential oxygen, water, and nutrients ample access to the roots and soil as well. Though aeration may seem tedious to some, few can argue with results. An aerator tool can be picked up at your local hardware store for not too much coin, and is well worth the expenditure, unless you enjoy tracing your entire lawn, on hands and knees, poking holes; now that would be an excellent way to get familiar with every square inch! Because your lawn sees its fair share of use, much more than your garden especially if you have children or pets, the soil beneath your grass becomes compacted, making it terribly difficult for nutrients to penetrate and do their best. A lawn aerator punches holes in your lawn as you push behind, similarly to a push mower, with the holes penetrating around three inches, clear to the soil. This helps loosen the soil, allowing for better and essential air circulation to the roots of your grass. This is especially helpful in grass restoration situations where new growth is desired.

Aeration is best when your lawn is sufficiently moistened. A good time to perform an aeration session is the day after a nice steady rain. If rain is not in the forecast, make sure to extend your hose from its hose reel and amply water your lawn the day before aerating. It is essential to not drown your lawn, but to water it with about an inch of water. An easy way to test this would be to place containers in the areas you are watering with an inch demarcated on their side. Once this mark is reached through steady and well distributed watering, turn off the hose. Overnight, the water should soak in and allow the soil to dampen just enough to perform the aeration. Many homeowners follow aeration with fertilization as well because the loose soil allows for penetration of the nutrients. Aeration should be accomplished twice a year with dense, clay-like soil, and only once a year for sandy-soiled lawns. With an aeration, fertilization, and hydration program, your lawn will benefit greatly and provide hours and hours of enjoyment for you and your family year round.

About the author: Jon Bassfarm is an Internet content writer who enjoys researching and writing about many subjects including hose reel and landscaping. Please visit www.roboreel.com for more information.