When it comes to your lawn, you can follow all the right steps but still not get the results you
need. From mowing to watering, edging your lawn, seeding bare or sparse areas, etc.
But why does it never look quite right? What is it that you’re doing wrong? This post is going to look at a few tips that can actually help your lawn thrive, not just survive through the year.
Mow At The Right Height
Did you know there’s a right height your lawn needs to be for the type of grass you have?
For most people, the instinct is to cut shorter, keep it neat, and have it last longer between mowing. But that’s not always the right approach to take here. If you remove too much of the blade, then it has less surface area to photosynthesise, and this slows recovery and leaves the lawn looking thick and patchy. And the result is weaker grass, more exposed soil, and gaps that weeds are more than happy to move into.
If you have cool-season grass, for example, then the best approach is to keep it between 2.5 and 4 inches long. You can likely set your mower to the right height to avoid getting the ruler out here. Warm-weather varieties, however, can handle shorter cuts, but the rule is to never go more than a third of the blade at once. If you do, you’re adding extra stress to the grass, and this won’t yield the results you want.
Water In The Morning
Evening watering might feel like a good choice; you’ve had your day, the sun is setting, and it’s getting cooler. However, this can be the worst time to water your lawn. When you water for an evening, the blades stay wet overnight. And during this time, there’s little time for them to dry out, and this results in unintentionally delivering the perfect conditions for fungal diseases to grow. And once this takes hold, it’s really difficult to eradicate.
The switch here is to move watering to early morning before the day starts, so the lawn has all day to dry out and still deliver the water to the roots before the heat of the day sets in and evaporation starts. If you can’t do morning, then midday will work, too, but if you live in a state where it gets hot fast, this might not work.
Edge After Every Mow
If you look at your neighbours’ lawns, wanting to recreate what they’ve cultivated, you can guarantee they’re edging their lawns. Meticulous lawns that have been cared for and attention given to edging look cleaner, fresher, sharper, and have defined edges so they’re not blurring into whatever is around them.
Edging doesn’t take as much time as mowing does, and running a weed eater along the edges after each mowing can help you prevent weeds from infiltrating your lawn and keep the lines sharp. The upside is that taking the time to do this means you’re not fighting a battle keeping your lawn free from weeds that have been allowed to spread.
Plus, over time, edging will define the shape of the lawn and help maintain the structure of the lawn.
Feed At The Right Time
Lawn feed isn’t a one-time and done kind of thing. It’s not a single product you pull out when you think you need it.
The needs of the grass will change with the season, and so too will need to change how you care for it.
A spring feed should be high in nitrogen, which drives leafy green growth, which is exactly what you need coming out of winter. While in the summer, feeds can be a more balanced formula. It’s worth noting that it’s not recommended to feed during really dry periods, as this can stress the grass too much and cause more harm than good.
However, when fall rolls around, you need to use a high potassium, low nitrogen feed that toughens the grass through the winter period. And when you apply it around September or early October (location dependent), it can make a considerable difference to your lawn care routine.
Scarify Before The Season Turns
Scarifying is the act of raking out the thatch aggressively using a dethatching rake or stiff rake. While a thin layer of thatch isn’t usually a problem, it does actually help retain moisture. If it builds up too much, it causes issues.
The trick is to remove it once it gets thicker than around half an inch, as this is when your issues will start. Your lawn will initially look awful once you start this; however, that’s completely normal, and once the grass recovers, it will grow back thicker and healthier as you’ve given the roots an opportunity to breathe.
The best time to do this is around early fall, as there’s still enough warmth and growing season left for the law to fully recover before winter. You can do this in spring, but it leaves you less recovery time before the dry summer months start. And never do this in summer. Ever.
Let The Lawn Dry Before You Mow
The last thing you should be doing to get a healthy lawn is mowing when it’s wet. It might seem harmless, but the results will be visible fast. When you put a sharp blade through dry grass, you get a clean cut. But when the grass is wet, it tears instead of cutting cleanly. The result is ragged, shredded tips that turn yellow fast, and the lawn will just look worse than it did before you started mowing.
Then, when you add wet clipping to this, you’re simply compounding problems for the lawn as the clippings will clump together instead of spreading evenly, blocking light and airflow, which your lawn needs. And if you do this repeatedly, you can damage the soil structure, not just the grass, and reduce drainage, which continues the cycle of poor results from improper care.
