A vibrant, well-kept lawn can complement any home and increase a property’s curb appeal. However, unbeknownst to many homeowners, the things we do in service of helping our lawns often act as a hindrance to proper lawn health. In some instances, time constraints prevent us from providing our grass with the TLC it requires. Other times, we simply act on bad lawn care information we’ve received throughout the course of our lives. Fortunately, it’s never too late to correct these mistakes and start working toward a healthier lawn. Anyone ready to set their grass on the right path would do well to avoid the following blunders.
Putting Regular Maintenance on the Backburner
Some of us simply lack the time to provide our lawns with the level of maintenance they require. As a result, we come to regard lawn care as something we engage in every now and then. However, depending on the size of your yard, the type of climate you live in and the type of grass that populates your lawn, turning lawn maintenance into a “sometimes” thing may not be an option. So, if time constraints have prevented you from giving your lawn the attention it needs, consider enlisting the aid of a professional lawn care company.
When searching for lawn care companies, look for one that is available on a schedule that works for you – and your lawn. Furthermore, make sure any company you do business with is fully licensed and insured, even if hiring an unlicensed and/or uninsured company strikes you as more cost-effective. Additionally, before committing to do business with a company, do some online research and seek out feedback from previous clients. If you find that negative reviews far outnumber positive ones, it’s probably in your best interest to take your patronage elsewhere.
Overwatering
Regular watering is essential to the well-being of most grass types. However, it’s possible to get too much of a good thing. Habitually providing your lawn with more water than is recommended for your grass type is liable to make it weaker, not stronger. If your grass becomes accustomed to receiving excessive amounts of water, it will come to depend on getting that much water on a regular basis. You can help ensure that your lawn receives no more than the recommended amount of water by installing automatic sprinkler systems that dispense pre-set amounts of water at pre-set times. If this isn’t an option, you may find success with watering deeply but infrequently instead of providing your lawn with small-to-moderate amounts of water on a frequent basis.
Mowing too Short
When mowing our lawns, many of us opt to go as short as possible. Since this maximizes the time between mowings, setting our mowers to the shortest possible length seems like a no brainer. While this may ultimately save you some time, this approach to mowing it’s good for the health of your grass. Grass that’s cut too short is likely to have trouble soaking in water and retaining vital nutrients. To avoid this, stick to your grass type’s recommended length when it comes time to mow. This may mean leaving your grass a little longer than you’d like, but it will help set the stage for long-term lawn health.
Too Much Fertilizer
While fertilization can be a boon to lawn health, overdoing it can have the opposite effect. Applying too much fertilizer or fertilizing at the wrong time of year is liable to leave your lawn dependent upon chemical fertilizers and contribute to pollution. As such, make a point of educating yourself on how much fertilizer your grass type requires, the right type of fertilizer to use, how often you should fertilize and the ideal time(s) of year for doing so.
Proper lawn care isn’t nearly as cut-and-dry as many homeowners make it seem. While lawn maintenance isn’t exactly rocket science, there are a number of intricacies and smaller details we tend to overlook. As a result of our inadvertent blunders and oversights, our lawns often have trouble remaining in peak condition. If you suspect your lawn is suffering from accidental mishandling, there’s no time like the present to correct any errors you’ve been making when tending to your grass.
