Quick Lawn Care Tips For Achieving the Perfect Lawn

If you've ever wanted to improve the look of you lawn there are a few things you can do to maintain your lawn on a weekly basis without doing any major work often required to recover a damaged lawn.

Lawn Fertilizer- Lawns need their Spring feed most of all, especially one containing nitrogen, backed up with both phosphates and potash. One feed per annum is not enough, and a Summer feed, if the lawn is looking a little jaded should contain either a proprietary lawn tonic, or nitrogen rich fertilize. An autumn lawn care feed should concentrate more on phosphates and potash rather than nitrogen, possibly combined with a worm killer and disease preventive.

Watering Your Lawn - Rainfall in the is normally sufficient to keep the roots supplied with moisture, but dry spells do occur in late spring and summer months. The first sign of drought will be colour change, from green to straw or even brown. It is advisable to water at the coolest time of day, early or late, and best with a rotary sprinkler. A good watering once a week for optimum lawn care is preferable to over watering,unless it is extremely hot. In this way deep root development will be encouraged.

Weed Control - This is really down to good lawn care management. With an established lawn, laid with good quality seed or turf, the rules for maintaining it include the following. Appropriate mowing, at the correct height and little and often, and proper watering especially at the hint of a dry spell. Scarifying helps to control weeds and invigorates lawn growth, as does proper feeding. Good fertility combats the growth of weeds and builds the strength of the grass. Worm casts invite weed seeds, worm control is necessary, and prevention of disease in bare patches.

Mowing Your Lawn - Mowing keeps the lawn looking attractive. It should he done regularly, from March to October, with sharp blades, set not too low. It is better to mow when the grass is dry, to reduce mower clogging. The mower should be moved in a constant direction at a steady pace, and not hoovered backwards and forwards. When newly sown grass reaches 2" or 3" inches high, the top 2" can be mowed with care.

Advice for new lawn care.

Establishment lawn care - Whether starting entirely from scratch, or renovating and old, tired lawn, the following is the best way to proceed. Seeding - for a lawn to be created from a bare, grassless mud patch, it is easier to get professional help with the levelling, via a tractor and box blade. A smooth clear surface is essential, with no holes, dips, or drainage problems.

Seed is best applied with a rotary type spreader. Half the seed should be spread in one direction, the remainder in the opposite direction. This gives good soil contact for the seed, and uniform germination. The type of grasses to be grown are dictated by climate, and are best planted 30 days before real warmth or chill sets in. Only hot season grasses should be sown when the temperature reaches 80 to 90 degrees. Hot season seed is very small and can be spread lightly, whereas cold climate seed is larger and requires heavier coverage for good thick grass.

There are various lawn care machines that can be rented for a day or two to power seed a lawn. The seed is dropped into ready made grooves as the machine moves over the ground. Again, a level surface is essential, and power seeders are not recommended where it is rough or uneven.

A further solution is to Hydroseed. Under this process the seed is mixed with fertilizer and a lawn care mulch plus water, and sprayed on to the lawn. This encourages quicker germination. The spray is coloured blue or green for identifying the sprayed area, and later turns white. The machine will usually have to be hired rather than rented. A lawn can also be renovated easily with a lawn care dethatcher, which scarifys the surface, and aids germination of scattered seeds. This machine needs using with care in respect of the lawn surface.

Preparing the Seed Bed.

For New Lawn care - Rake and smooth, remove any debris. Renovating Established Lawns - Mow closely. To overseed or repair bare spots, rake to produce a viable surface, then check section on 'fertilizing'. Kill off remaining seed with Finale. Vegetation will brown within 7-10 days. A good raking will remove loosened thatch and expose soil for seed. Bare spots can be chopped into small chunks to allow use of the slit seeder in a grid formation. Slits should run in a horizontal fashion across slopes. Do not use a Rototill, which will expose and spread weed seeds.

 Quick and helpful lawn and lawn care tips and advice Lawn Care Information. Reproduction of this article is permitted so long as this resource box is included, it remains unchanged and all links remain active and clickable. http://www.lawncarecentre.com

Lawn Care Solutions - The Right Way to Mow Your Lawn!

Lawn Mowers

The way you mow your lawn could mean the difference between a healthy lawn and a very healthy lawn. Most people are not thrilled when they have to mow the lawn or weed it. But these are important lawn maintenance tasks that have to be done.

The first step to mowing the lawn is to buy the right lawn mower. There are many different kinds on the market today.

Push mower -These are probably the oldest lawn mowers in existence, but they are very effective for smaller lawns. You will get no special perks from this mower. With some updated mower, you may be able to change the blade height, but that’s about it.

All you have to do is manually push the mower over the lawn and it will cut the grass. It is important to make sure the grass is dry or it will get caught in the blade and you will have to remove it.

The clippings will fall on the lawn.

You can grab a bag and rake them up, or you can let them decompose and feed your lawn. It’s your choice.

Electric mower - An electric mower is a little easier to use because it is powers by electricity. This means that you will be able to cut your lawn faster than with a push mower. Older electric mowers have a power cord that you will have to plug in order to use. These mowers can be dangerous if you do not remember to look after the cord.

As with the push mower, you will have to clean up the clippings or leave them on your lawn.

Electric cordless mower - These mowers do not have cords which make them much easier to use and do not require you to find an outlet on both sides of the house. Electric cordless mowers also come with a bag that will store lawn clippings. When the bag is full, you will have to empty it. These mowers run on a battery that can be charged easily when not in use.

These mowers can also be used without the bag if you would rather let the lawn clippings fertilize your lawn.

Ride-on mower - For larger lawns, a ride-on mower will help you not run out of energy to complete other tasks around the yard once the mowing is complete.

These mowers have bags that will catch lawn clippings.

Mulching mower - If you want to use your lawn clippings, but do not like the site of them, you should look into investing in a mulching mower. These mowers will ground up lawn clippings so they are not as visible as regular clippings.

How to Mow

Regardless of which lawn mower you purchase, you should learn how to mow the lawn correctly so that you do not do unnecessary damage. You should consider following these tips:

You should mow your lawn when the grass is dry and is about three inches in length. If you mow any sooner, you may end up killing the grass. You will then have to reseed and start all over again. If you don’t want to walk outside each weekend and measure your lawn, you should mow about twice a month or every other weekend during the summertime.

Each time you mow your lawn, you should begin in a different direction. If you mow in the same direction each time, you will end up creating ruts in your lawn. These ruts could destroy your lawn and also make it look run down and unkempt.

Even if you do not want lawn clippings, and have not purchased a mulching mower, maybe you could compromise and only pick up lawn clippings once a month instead of twice. Full of nutrients, lawn clippings will make your lawn healthier.

Mowing the lawn is not difficult, but it should be done correctly so that you can get the most from your lawn during the spring and summer months. The nutrients you feed your lawn during this time will keep your lawn healthy for the entire year. While mowing too much can be a problem, so can not mowing enough. Long grass can cause shorter pieces to not get enough sunlight.

Mow your lawn consistently and you will enjoy a lush lawn all season long. Fertilize it with fertilizers, mulch, compost, and lawn clippings to keep that green alive all year long.

Terry Blackburn. Internet Marketing Consultant, living in South Shields in the North-East of England. Author and Producer of blog http://www.lawnsurgeon.blogspot.com. Author of "Your Perfect Lawn," a 90 Page eBook devoted to Lawn Preparation, Lawn Care and Maintenance. Find it at http://www.lawnsurgeon.com

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