After reading this post, you'll know 7 basic and easy practices needed to achieve your dream lawn.
Aeration
Dethatching
Watering Deeply
Overseeding
Natural Fertilizing
Grass-cycling
Mowing High
1. Aeration
In some ways, a healthy lawn is like a fire. If it doesn't get enough airflow, then it will most surely die. A healthy lawn can certainly boost the curb appeal of your home or leave a lasting impression on potential customers and tenants if you're a commercial property owner. One reason why you should aerate your lawn is that your soil can compact over time. Soil compaction stands as a serious threat to your lawn health especially if you have kids, pets, or mow the lawn yourself. The thought that a firm lawn yields a strong and healthy lawn is misleading.
Soil compaction can severely restrict air circulation in your lawn. As we all know, air circulation is needed for any living organism, especially your lawn. Restricted airflow due to soil compaction issues also often deters symbiotic organisms such as worms, fungi, and bacteria from establishing a strong presence in your soil's ecosystem. A lawn that is not regularly aerated also struggles to retain water and vital nutrients that are required for the healthy and vibrant lawn that you're looking to achieve.
Lawn aeration is a simple process that requires you to create 3-inch holes throughout your lawn which allows for easy water, nutrient, and airflow to access roots much more easily and efficiently. Doing so will also allow for micro-organisms to help break down thatch and grass-cycled material which you will learn about further into this blog.
Tip: Thoroughly water your lawn the day before you intend to aerate your lawn to ensure the soil has time to loosen up.
2. Dethatching
To know the benefits of lawn-dethatching, you must also understand the symptoms of a lawn that lacks a regular dethatching routine. What is thatch you may ask?
Thatch is a layer of both dead and nearly dead organic material from roots, stems, and shoots of decomposing grass. Simply put, it's a layer of dead grass that remains under your tall and healthy grass. One thing you can do is get eye-level with your lawn and examine the layer of thatch to determine whether or not its height exceeds 1-2 inches. If the approximate height of your thatch exceeds this height, then it may be time for your lawn to be dethatched.
Another sign that your lawn needs dethatching would be if you see patches of very little growth, lawn discoloration, or patches of dead grass. In some instances, your lawn thatch may be so severe that you should call a professional to dethatch your entire lawn before you start to develop a schedule of routine thatch-prevention efforts such as aeration (as mentioned above), and deep watering. Another tactic that will help you to prevent and eliminate excessive thatch would be the removal of grass clippings after regular mowing.
Similar to aeration, dethatching improves air circulation to the roots of healthy grass which stimulates existing roots and encourages new root growth. Annual dethatching also improves drainage to prevent drowning some parts of your lawn, promotes the growth of new grass which leaves less room for weeds, and allows fertilizer to penetrate through the grass to reach the soil better.
Tip: Before dethatching, lightly water your lawn or wait for light rain to loosen up the surface of the soil. Also, mow your lawn shorter than normal to maximize the effectiveness of your dethatching process. This process should be done in later Summer or early Fall after your lawn has undergone its most vigorous growing season.
3. Watering Deeply
How can the way your water your lawn improve its health? First of all, any resident that lives in Acton, Shapleigh, Sanford, and other surrounding towns can tell you that Summers in Maine can be quite hot and especially dry. In the past few years especially, York County has regularly experienced drought. With dry Summers, and the common misconception that a lawn needs to be watered daily and for a short period, we see many people left wondering why their lawn is not thriving.
The way you water your lawn makes a huge impact on its overall quality. When a lawn is watered for a short time daily, the arid state that the Maine Summers bring dries up the small amount of water that remains close to the surface of the lawn and does not allow a significant amount of water to reach root level.
For grass to thrive and improve over time, your lawn should be watered deeply and less frequently. Water your lawn once or twice each week with approximately 1 inch of water (find out how you can measure this in our tip below). When your lawn is watered deeply, roots will adapt to grow deeper into the soil where water is more easily retained. Not only will this root growth allow for more nutrients to reach your lawn, but it will also improve the color depth and longevity of your lawn each season.
Tip: To determine whether or not you're achieving a watering level of 1 inch, place small containers with a mark at about 1 inch high on the container at soil level around your lawn before watering. In doing so, when you're watering your lawn you can find out how long it takes to fill the containers to the 1-inch mark and reach a watering level of 1 inch. Consider watering your lawn later in the afternoon after the sun is lower in the sky. This will prevent direct sunlight from drying out your lawn and allow for enough time to pass for the roots to be fully saturated.
4. Overseeding
The internet is an extremely helpful resource when you're considering ways to revive your lawn by means of providing videos and helpful articles and blogs such as the one you're reading now. When seeding your lawn in any way it is important to consider what preparations need to be made to the soil to maximize the number of seeds that germinate in late Spring.
If you are looking to start the process of reviving a sparse lawn or already regularly care for your lawn then you should make it a common practice to overseed your lawn. Overseeding involves spreading seeds over existing grass to further improve lawn color and density. Before overseeding though, it is important to carefully consider the steps involved.
The first step you must take before overseeding your lawn is to mow your entire lawn at a lower height than normal. Since overseeding is typically done in the Fall, it would also be a good time to dethatch your lawn.
Once you've mowed your existing grass (and dethatched your lawn optionally) then you must pick a grass type. In Maine, it is advised for homeowners to use a cool-season grass seed such as a Bentgrass Colonial, or a Fescue blend. Consult the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map to get a better idea as to which exact mixes grow best in your zone.
Before planting grass seed, soil amendments may need to be made in the soil. This consists of adding material such as poultry manure, lime, or wood ash to the soil to increase the pH for certain grass types. If your lawn is currently not in a healthy state, conducting a soil test would be the best course of action before applying any extra seed to determine whether or not the pH needs to be increased.
When the above steps have been accomplished, add your seed of choice. Load your grass seed into a spreader or even your hands and spread the seeds throughout your lawn. Grass seed can be spread by hand however this can be done much faster and more accurately with a spreader.
Congratulations! All you have left to do now is water your lawn. Review paragraph 3 above title "Watering Deeply" for more information on how to water your lawn during and after the overseeding step.
Tip: Using compost as an additive in Maine's sandy soil during the soil amendments step of the overseeding process provides a lot of essential nutrients that often are lacking. Test your soil before overseeding. If your soil has a neutral pH and is fertile, then no soil amendments need to be made.
5. Natural Fertilizing
Believe it or not, some cities and counties have laws that regulate how often and how much chemical fertilizer a homeowner can use. On average, a standard homeowner uses four times as much agricultural chemicals per square foot when compared to farmers.
Chemical fertilizers often lead to thatching and ultimately dead patches of grass. Most modern chemical fertilizers release nitrogen into the soil very quickly which leads to a sudden and drastic increase in grass growth. It's the equivalent of a steroid for your lawn. Though this may seem good, the growth is uncontrolled and often leads to thatching since the grass is growing faster than it can decompose which leaves an ever-expanding layer of dead or dying material. This material, also known as thatch, builds up and drastically reduces airflow and nutrient absorption of the healthy grass which leads to overall degrading quality in your lawn.
Unlike chemical fertilizers, natural fertilizers reduce thatch since they do not produce an immediate boost in lawn growth. This will help to save you money by preventing you from making all kinds of amendments and excessive overseeding in the future from chemical fertilizer usage. Natural fertilizers also act effectively without disturbing the soil's overall ecosystem. This allows for Microbes, worms, and fungi to thrive under the surface of your lawn. When micro-organisms thrive, they can break down dead matter and return the nutrients to your lawn.
Spruce Property Care also chooses to use natural fertilizers exclusively since they are completely sustainable and environmentally friendly. According to the Organic Trade Association, organic fertilizer has proved to increase species biodiversity by over 30%. Though more costly than synthetic fertilizers depending on where you live, organic fertilizers can reduce the need for pesticides, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium requirements.
6. Grass-cycling
Grass is made up of 90% water with the remaining 10% being mostly nitrogen which are the two most vital components for the survival of a healthy lawn aside from proper sunlight. When lawns are mowed, most people will opt to get rid of the shavings that come from each mowing. The concept of grass-cycling involves letting grass clippings remain on the lawn after mowing. This allows for several things to happen. When grass shavings are left on a law, water retention of the surface of the lawn increases due to the organic material breaking down and holding water. Nutrients from the grass clippings also return to the lawn when they break down completely.
A common misconception that people have about grass-cycling is that it creates thatch. Though it can replicate the benefits of well-managed thatch, it does not constrict air circulation in the lawn. This is due to the grass clippings being free to move around the surface of the lawn with the wind and they do not accumulate underneath the healthy grass the same way thatch does.
7. Mowing High
When a lawn is mowed at too short of a length, it can expose the ground below to too much direct sunlight which can often lead to drought, and expose weed seeds which gives them the ability to germinate easily. A good rule of thumb to follow is to mow your lawn to no less than 2 inches in length. If you regularly mow your lawn to no less than two inches and still are experiencing significant weed growth, then consider increasing the height of your lawn to 3 inches tall.
A lawn that does not reach below two inches often experiences much healthier growth over any given season than a lawn with below an average cut height of 2 inches. When you maintain a lawn above 2 inches it allows for only 30% of each blade to be cut which is optimum for maintaining the overall integrity and health of your lawn. Mowing high also prevents scalping which is damage to turf from mowing too short. In addition, this practice also encourages a deeper route system which helps to fight against droughts and absorb nutrients from deeper within the ground.
Try for yourself! Start implementing our suggestions and tips above this season and see how your lawn changes and improves over time as you work to achieve your dream lawn.
Here at Spruce Property Care, we know how much effort it takes to establish and maintain a healthy lawn that makes your property the talk of the neighborhood. We know because we do it for a living! Fill out our form below and talk to a specialist with any questions you may have regarding lawn maintenance as well as request weekly mowing from our team of specialists. Fill out our form below to get started!
#improveyourlawn #betterlawn #overseeding #dethatching #deepwatering #aeratingyourlawn #howtogetagreenerlawn #greenerlawn #deethatching #deethatchyourlawn