Got a dry lawn?
Sure, you can read plenty of do-it-yourself articles that focus on home improvement and fixing different appliances and fixtures in your house, but what if your lawn is the thing that needs repair? If you've just gone through a dry month and need your lawn to go from brown to green in a hurry, this post is for you. We'll take a look at some tips and techniques for getting your lawn looking, well, alive again.
- First, be sure what the source of the problem is. If you're not sure that it's the dry weather that's making your lawn brown, you'll want to figure out if it's a shortage of water or an abundance of hungry insects that's making your lawn go brown. If your lawn is brown in patches, there's a good chance that it's something other than the dryness - or at least not the dryness totally - that's effecting your lawn. If your entire front and backyard are both brown, you're probably looking at simple dryness. Hint: a good way to test this is to take out a clump of your lawn and look for the roots. If the roots are eaten up, you have bugs to blame. If not, the weather is probably the factor.
- Next, you'll want to make sure you apply the appropriate amount of water to your lawn. Look up your individual grass type or at least climate and try to find out the typical amount of water your grass needs to look green. You don't want to under-water your grass, but you don't want to over-water it either. Note: making sure you water your grass the proper amount doesn't necessarily mean that you'll want to conserve water. It seemly means that you'll want to find the right amount of water for your grass type - it might be high or low.
- Finally, you'll want to make sure you have strong blades of grass with strong roots. This is achieved by mowing your lawn with a high setting, meaning that you'll leave tall blades of grass. Why? The shorter the blades, the less need they have for strong roots to provide them with strength and nutrients. If you have longer blades of grass on a regular basis, the roots will grow strong and give your grass blades a healthy, attractive look. Remember that the more roots there are, the more water they'll need.
Photo Credits: Bill Hails
Originally posted 2009-09-28 03:38:26.
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Posted by Fix Handyman on September 2, 2010 in
Handyman, How to Fix, Landscaper, Lawn
How to Grow Your Lawn Thick and Green
For some people, keeping a good lawn simply means installing a sprinkler system and making sure that it is mowed nice and short every few days. But the experienced lawn caretaker knows that growing a lush, thick green lawn needs a little more work than that. Even if you won't be putting in extra hours on your lawn, you can make sure it grows nice and green through some common-sense knowledge and a few useful tips. Here are some of the best ways to fix a lawn than grown brown and ugly.
- Mowing your lawn properly.
Some people think that the height of the blades of grass aren't very important - that the shorter you cut them, the better: this means you will have to mow it less. People who put a little more care into their lawns know that mowing it properly might mean a little extra work, but it will have day-to-day rewards that you can see.
In order to mow your lawn properly, you'll want to keep the height of your blades up, usually three to four inches. Keeping the blades of grass long also keeps them healthy, capable of fighting off grass diseases and other disturbances. These longer blades will also utilize extra nutrients in order to maintain their size, which means that their color will become a deeper green. When you see a short, brown lawn on your block, you know one of the things they're doing wrong.
- Don't worry about weeds.
By mowing your lawn in the above fashion, you'll also help fight off weeds. To maintain a lush green lawn, you'll want to mow your lawn to keep the blades high, which means you'll also want to mow it often so that they don't get too high and look rough. Mowing your lawn in this fashion will also clip off weeds and help kill them - no pulling necessary. If you want to fight your weeds, try cutting your lawn in the way just described for a week or two and see how long they survive.
- Water heavily when it needs it.
A heavy watering will make sure that your water goes deep into the ground, forcing the roots of your grass deep to retrieve all the moisture they can (remember, higher blades of grass will need more moisture!). That also helps starve out weeds who have to fight off the stronger blades of grass for the nutrients and moisture.
Growing your lawn thick doesn't mean a lot of work - it simply means doing things the right way, rather than working hard on something that doesn't make a lot of sense. Mow high, mow often, and water deep when the blades are thirsty, and you'll be able to grow your lawn thick and lush.
Photo Credits: Eric M Martin
Originally posted 2009-07-20 03:30:41.
This post involves:
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Posted by Fix Handyman on May 3, 2010 in
How to Fix, Lawn
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