In as much as you should consider hiring a professional lawn maintenance contractor to keep your perfect landscaping looking green and health, you also need to play a part in the lawn care and maintenance. You should be aware of the various routine task you need to do that will keep your yard looking fantastic.
With Lawn Care Jacksonville FL, much of what you need to do will mostly be in readiness for the summer and spring seasons. Well, that should be obvious since you cannot work on your lawn during winter because much of the plant-life goes dormant. With that in mind, it is necessary for you to have the required lawn maintenance equipment and products.
In keeping with the subject matter, the tips given below from Discover Ziehler, cover the routine tasks that constitute proper lawn care that will ensure you have a yard that is welcoming for those summer barbecues parties, children’s games, or just having a place that is inviting during the day or night. It is all a matter of showing your greens some little TLC.
1. Watering
Irrigating the yard should be done periodically every week. If you are in a region that has a hot and dry climate, then the watering should be more frequent, especially during the summer months. To have a yard that looks healthy, it will require around an inch of water per week during the hot days. Reduce that amount by half during the wet days. Also, water the lawn during the morning hours or late in the day when the sun is not hot. Watering in the evening, however, should be done cautiously; it should be a smaller amount than what is dispersed in the morning to avoid soaking the grass overnight thus lowering the risk of diseases.
Avoid excessive watering, which is common when using sprinklers. It is wise to time the sprinklers and move them around the yard so that you avoid the formation of large puddles in some parts of the lawn while others remain dry. Conversely, you also need to know when to water instead of making it a haphazard chore. You can use your feet to tell if the ground is dry and if the grass springs back into position; you need to water the lawn if that does not happen. You can also tell it is time to water the yard if you note leaf curling or rolling or if the grass has a purple or blue tinge.
2. Mowing
To get it right when mowing your lawn, what you should remember is that you are not scalping the grass. Also, keep in mind that you need to achieve a precise trim and that calls for the use of sharp blades in the mower. Blunt blades will only rip and damage the grass. Also, ensure that the blades are not set to cut at a very low level that is near the ground. Cutting too close to the ground is the quickest way of having a damaged lawn, and it leads to dry patches.
When mowing overgrown grass, it is better to do several passes with the mower as opposed to going one round that cuts the grass to a desirable length. Also, mow the lawn two days after watering it rather than when it is wet. You can opt to scarify the grass clippings or leave them, but keep in mind that the cuttings do not necessarily lead to thatch. As such, you should assess the decomposition process of the grass clippings to rake them if they are not broken down, which often happens when there are too much of the grass clippings left on the lawn. For the edges of your yard where the lawn mower cannot reach, you can trim the grass using long-handled shears or hedge trimmer so that you can even work around obstacles.
3. Feeding The Grass
For that lawn that grows fast and looks healthy with a lush-green cover, you will need to add a bit of fertilizer. However, you will not pick any fertilizer and sprinkle it around your yard. You need to test the soil to know the type you are dealing with, and you also need to be familiar with what your grass needs. The application should be around three to four times a year. The first round of the application of the fertilizer should be a month or so before it the grass starts growing. The second will have approximately a three-month gap from the first and the third and four have a two-month gap respectively.
You can apply the fertilizer by hand if you have a small lawn and opt for a special spreader tool if you cover a large area. Avoid adding fertilizer when it is too hot, to avoid burning the grass. The best approach is to water-in the fertilizer, meaning you water the lawn after applying the fertilizer; this can be a day after application. Also, consider doing this before expected rainfall. Remember to follow the instructions for the application as stated by the fertilizer manufacturer.
4. Weeding
Weeds may seem a relentless nuisance especially during the summer months, but you need to be a step ahead of them if you can to snuff off their campaign against the beauty you desire for your lawn. Failure to act swiftly and according can see them take hold of your yard. They use of herbicides is mostly called for when you are dealing with a significant weed problem. Keep in mind that herbicides can be harsh to the lawn resulting in a yard that looks stressed. However, when you have weeds appearing here and there in your yard and far-in-between, then you should take a hands-on approach to deal with the weeds. Yank them for the ground, root and all, and dispose of properly.
5. Aeration
Lastly, understand that grass, as is with any other plant, is a living thing. Therefore, it flourishes when it breathes with ease while also have easy access to food and water. Thus, improve the air supply in the soil is an essential lawn care practice which goes together with fertilizing the yard. Well-aerated soil will allow for quick delivery of water, fertilizer, and oxygen to the roots of the grass and this facilitate a rapid and firm spread of the roots resulting in a lawn that has fast-growing grass that looks lush and healthy.