Caring for you lawn can be the most rewarding thing because your hard work is crystal clearly visible before your eyes and the plants grow from patchy spots to being wholly uniform! It is rather fruitful to experience a growth in something you’ve invested time and energy in and see it grow gracefully on a large scale.
Before tending to your lawn, you must gather considerable knowledge about growing what type of grass, with what type of fertilizer, with how many inches of water during what weather! Having a grip on your plants and studying their every movement of growth can lead to an expansion of your knowledge bank of gardening too! So consider that a bonus!Taking care of an entire area of plants is a tedious process, so here’s a guide on how to tend to them in the most beginner way possible!
1. Mowing your lawn regularly
By regularly cutting the grass on your lawn to a relatively uniform length, the grass on your lawn is exposed equally to sunlight, water and fertilizers. Trimming grass once a week also ensures the prospect of encouraging the roots of the grass to spread wide, thus filling up any gaps which would have been ultimately occupied by weeds. In addition, healthy blades reach the surface every time the weaker, dead ones are mowed away, giving your lawn a fresh, healthy and greener look!
2. Feeding your lawn
The colder winter temperatures can sometimes weaken the growth of grass and cause a small amount of damage to its roots. In order to combat this, it is essential to constantly feed the grass on your lawn with nutrients that can be found in light, organic fertilizers that will restore the depleted nutrients back to the lawn. A good time to feed your lawn would be in Spring and Autumn when the soil is still moist. But remember to stop feeding in the Summer because it is during this time that the grass stops growing because of the hot weather which can make them susceptible to further damage by lawn fertilizers! Wait for some humidity or the rainy season to start feeding again!
3. Loosening compacted soil
Soil that is tightly compacted below the surface of the soil leaves little space for the roots of the grass to penetrate which can result in the lawn quickly dying out! Releasing the soil from its restrains can frequently be achieved by aeration which helps loosen the top soil without causing any disruption to the grass. Digging deeper with a rake can also do the trick if the usual aeration doesn’t work but if the problem penetrates deeper, it is wise for a professional to excavate the area and teem it with gravel! To avoid this drastic escalation of the problem, it is advised to lightly loosen the top layers of compacted soil regularly.4. Mulching
Mulching has proven time and again to be the best of friends to indoor as well as outdoor plant growth. Your lawn clippings and other biodegradable things from your kitchen, can be mulched back into your lawn which makes the entire process inexpensive and effective. Organic elements of the mulch like bark clippings, kitchen waste, coconut husk and the like lead to a tremendous influx of nutrients to the soil that improves growth considerably! Dried and dead leaves can also be used around the flowerbeds on the lawn which can further be used in a compost pile.
5. Edging your lawn
Edging your lawn is an important task to perform chiefly because of the importance of keeping your lawn prim and proper along with keeping them green and fresh. Edging provides a nice finishing touch to your lawn, leaving it looking sharp and fresh. With this, the patchy, bald spots on your lawn appear less thus establishing a uniform look throughout. It is advised to use a spade to tackle grass growth on the border, to reshape and install a sort of permanent edging that the grass is unable to crossover.
6. Watering
Watering is one of the most important things for maintaining a lawn because it not gives the plants a stringent supply of water but also provides it with the much needed moisture for further adding fertilizers. Sprinklers are perfect for keeping the lawn moist and hydrated. It is smart to water your lawn before 10AM as lower temperatures minimize evaporation and the plants make absolute utilization of the water provided. Be careful not to over-water the soil as over-watering can cause the roots to limit to a shallow length, which can eventually stunt their growth.
