I’ll admit it, I have zero idea what I’m doing when it comes to lawn care. I mow my lawn once a week and that is about it. After this crazy winter it looks like my lawn is not as healthy as it was so I think I need to suck it up and do something more than mow it.
I started reading various sites and practically fell asleep. They were using words like ‘loam’. Good Gods. I want to know:
What height I should set my mower at (I’ve read keep it at the highest setting to promote strong roots and will keep sun from weeds)
Fertilization. Break it down. How many times, when, with what. I prefer not to start a chemical warfare on my lawn, so if there are options that are more natural I would want to go that route. The kids are rolling around in the grass
Other maintenance I am not including. Do I need to aerate the soil? If so how?
DUDE! Congrats on taking an interest in your personal green space! I hardly profess to know what I’m doing but I’ve learned a thing or two since having my house built in 2003.
My neighbors constantly tell me I have the best yard in the neighborhood but it comes with a lot of fricking care, thought and work. Most of the time I’m just winging it though.
I have a few questions. Do you ever need to water? Have you ever fertilized before? How big is your lawn? What type of grass do you have? Does your lawn have a big hill or it is relatively flat (although graded away from your house)? Is your lawn shaded?
Okay, a few things I’ve done. I’ve used the Scott’s Fertilizer 4-step and 5-step programs. It’s specifically designed to be fool proof and dump the right mix of fertilizer/weed killer/insecticides at the right time of the year. With either program there is a general all-pupose fertilizer which is good at any time of the year. Here’s the link to the Scott’s personalized annual lawn care program.
Now, though, I’ve transitioned to a local lawn care service provider. This way I don’t have to worry about hitting the lawn at the right time (they time it just right) and they also provide other services like lime treatments for my extremely dense and hard clay soil and other treatments as needed. There are eco-friendly versions like our local Buckeye Ecocare and more traditional services like TruGreen or Team Green Lawn. It’s a personal preference on your views of the environment and how green, healthy and plush you want your yard to work (and balancing it with cost).
I’ll have more advice on lawn height, watering, core aeriation, dethatching, etc but need to have you answer my questions first.
Sweet. Thanks man for taking the time to lay that out.
[ul]
[li]Do you ever need to water? Nope[/li][li]Have you ever fertilized before? Nope[/li][li]How big is your lawn? Not big. Quarter acre maybe?[/li][li]What type of grass do you have? I believe zoysia, but don’t know this as fact[/li][li]Does your lawn have a big hill or it is relatively flat: Flat[/li][li](although graded away from your house)? Can’t speak to that[/li][li]Is your lawn shaded? Nope[/li][/ul]
My lawn is mainly made of moss, shamrocks, and dandielions. I mow it. It grows. I ignore it. It grows. Sometimes it turns brown, then it rains and it turns green again.
I live in an apartment now. Sometimes I stand at the front window with a cup of coffee and watch the maintenance crew work on the yard. It’s a very zen experience after all those years fighting The Burgeoning myself.
Mine has lumps of coal in it, weeds and dandelions…It needs sorting and I know nothing, nothing I tell you. I’ll post pics when I get a chance (note, that I inherited the garden rather than let it get like that myself).
