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“Don’t work harder. Work smarter.”
That is an adage from the business world that is also pretty good advice about how to approach the management of our lawns. We can do all the right things by buying good tools, quality fertilizers and weed killers and setting aside time each weekend for lawn maintenance. But along with devotion, some wisdom about how to go about the art of lawn care is necessary to be successful.
A good example is how you use your lawnmower. Just rolling it out of the box and starting to mow is not the smart way to use this tool. You must adjust it and use it purposefully so each mow accomplishes the goals of the season your yard is in. For example, in the early spring after the yard has sat idle for several months, it is a good move to bring the mower out and put it on the lowest setting and mow a lawn that is not active. It seems silly but “scalping” the grass removes the extraneous material from the grass seedlings as well as cleans the soil around the grass to make early growth more effective.
As the season continues, keep raising the height of the blades every 3-4 weeks until you are finally leaving your grass blades standing about three inches tall. This may seem like a shaggy grass but if you mow faithfully each week, it will be long but well groomed. The rule is for any plant that the depth of the roots matches the height of the plant above the ground. So if you let your grass get longer in the summer months, it will develop deeper roots and gather moisture and nutrients more easily at that depth.
Also, be sure to keep your mower in good repair. A well tuned machine uses the gas you in it more efficiently and produces less smog, which is good for the environment. But by putting your mower in the shop early in the season, the mechanics can make sure there are no leaks of oil or gas that could get down into your turf and kill sections of your lawn. They can also make sure the blade is balanced to cut evenly for the entire span of the blade which is crucial for a smooth cut each time.

Consistency in maintenance is the heart of any good lawn care program. Along with a routine of mowing, maintaining a disciplined watering schedule keeps your lawn on a steady diet of moisture that is critical for growth. Also, use a scheduled but restrained discipline for weed control and fertilizer. Apply applications every 2-3 weeks alternating weed killer and fertilizer but do not exceed that schedule or you will overwhelm your grass. If the weeds need more work than this schedule can provide, pull them by hand. This kind of attention to detail and discipline from you as a homeowner is the smart way of managing your yard and it will reward you with the healthy turf that you want to surround you throughout the year.

There are a lot of good reasons to maintain a healthy and strong yard. You want to do it because you have pride in your home and if your yard is green and lush and has been well maintained, you can have people over and really let your home become a showcase for entertaining. You may be preparing your home for sale and it must look its best. Or you might have no other ulterior motive to growing a healthy lawn than the joy that being surrounded by a lush green carpet that is bursting with life brings. But there are some maintenance items to take care of to make sure you keep that stand of grass well fertilized and free of disease and weeds.
The actual step of putting out fertilizer on your yard is far from difficult. Fertilizer is sold in many easily accessible retail outlets from your local hardware store to a nursery to even your grocery store or Wal-Mart. The lawn experts at your greenhouse can make sure you match your goals with the fertilizer you buy and that you buy enough but not too much. Then it is just a matter of spreading it evenly on your lawn and watering it in and you are all set.
There are things you can do not only to make the fertilizer more effective but to provide natural support to your lawn so it draws it’s nutrients from the environment. Aerating the soil once a year is a way to open up the soil so not only is there more room around the soil for the movement of worms and other necessary life forms but air and water can get into the soil which makes it richer and more supportive of the grass above.

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Also, put a priority on raking and keeping the soil under your grass free of debris, leaves, sticks and other things that fall into any normal yard. This miscellaneous clutter makes it more difficult for your grass to spread plus anything foreign in your lawn introduces potential for disease. By doing a thorough raking of your yard before fertilizing, you open the soil up so the fertilizer can easily be watered into the soil where it can get to the roots of your grass easily. This one step alone can increase the effectiveness of your fertilizer tremendously.

The more you do to make every inch of your ground smooth, clean and ready for fertilizer, the better each application of nutrients will perform for you. Its a worthwhile habit to walk down your property and fill in any holes with good topsoil and add seed where bare spots occur before fertilizing. Then with diligent watering, your lawn will fill in full and lush because you used the unbeatable combination of good fertilizer and tender loving care.

Finding ways to apply the principles of living green and in harmony with the environment isn’t always easy. That is because over the decades, we have come to depend on chemicals for so many things. From washing our clothes and cars to killing weeds in the yard, there is a chemical product for just about everything. So if you want to go organic even in your lawn care, it is going to take some adjustments and some getting used to.
One basic adjustment might mean a fundamental change to what we see as a “weed”. Many of the “pests” that we always fought in our yards actually produce lovely blooms in a natural state. Dandelions are an example of a “weed” whose only crime is not being grass. But the dandelion produces a lovely flower that many of us associate with the coming of spring and summer.
That said, you no doubt will have some objectives with your yard that include elimination of some weeds or objectionable vegetation. One great way to battle unwanted life is simply to give superpowers to the life you want out there and that is your grass. There are a number of organic recipes for fertilizing your lawn that you can use even before your grass springs to life each year. By getting on a regular program of fertilizing and maintaining your yard, your grass will have all it needs to become strong, resilient, and able to resist disease and even battle weeds directly.
Grass is notoriously greedy for land. That is one of the things we like about it. So if you do your part to make your grass strong and ambitious, it will crowd out weeds. By also maintaining a good mowing schedule, you will be giving your grass one more weapon to fight bad things that might compete for land, water and sunlight. Grass actually prospers when mowed whereas weeds are damaged by regular mowing. So that act of mowing which to you is just another step to make your lawn look good is also a very effective weed management program.
Of course, there is a very old fashioned method of weed control that has pretty much gone by the wayside in our new chemical driven world. It is tremendously effective, totally in step with the principles or living green and being one with the environment. And if it is done right, it can even be a family bonding event. That is just getting out there with hand held digging tools, shoves and rakes and pulling the weeds by hand.

Nothing kills a weed more effectively than being extracted from the earth root system and all. The remnants of the weeds can be disposed of in an environmentally friendly way and you get some exercise to boot. It might lead to some sore muscles every so often but one thing you have to say for the old fashioned of manual weed control in your yard and that is that its green and it works.