How do I take care of my lawn?

Well, if you must have a lawn, here are some tips:

Aerate and power rake in spring

The typical advice out there is to aerate every year, but if you have a newer lawn or one that has been well taken-care of, you can probably get away with every other year.  Mine is very old and compacted, and definately needs aerating every year.  The plugs can be left to decompose on the lawn, or raked up and thrown into the compost bin for a great compost stimulator.  The occasional power rake isn't a bad idea, either, if your lawn is very thick.

Fertilize

One of the best things you can do is spread about 1/4" of compost over the lawn every spring (May or June).  If you are aerating and/or power raking, apply the compost after.  Soon the grass will grow into it and you won't even know it's there, meanwhile it is a slow release fertilizer that will feed your lawn and even any nearby trees.  There are companies who will deliver compost and even spread it for you if you choose.

Puh-lease don't use weed and feed unless you really have a terrible weed infestation!  It's such a waste and just environmentally unacceptable these days.  If you insist on using synthetic fertilizer, wait until mid-May when the ground will be warm enough for it to activate so that it won't just run off into the sewer with the next rain.

Water

Unless you have a need to be the first on the block to have a green lawn, you don't need to water until mid-May either.  After that it needs about 1" per week (or enough to fill an upside-down frisbee) - that includes rainfall.  The current environmental advice is to water less frequently and deeper to encourage the grass to grow deeper roots and make it more drought tolerant.  It's also best to water in the early morning when there is usually very little wind.  You can buy timers for your sprinkler if you're not a morning person!   But even better, we need more awareness that grass will naturally brown in the hot summer, but not die.  It will green up again in the fall when weather gets cooler so there is really no need to water like mad in the middle of the summer.  In a few years it will probably be banned anyway.   

Comments

[Nancy Bond]

Great tips for a green lawn. My Dad used to say that if he killed all the dandelions that grew in a wave of gold each year, he wouldn't have any lawn left at all. :) Weed and feed can leave some pretty ugly spots.