Our Landscaping Blog provides the ideas, information and practical experience you need to get the job done right. Keep this up for four days, then switch to a deep watering once a day for the next five days. You’re not trying to squeeze it together, you’re trying to break it apart — gently. Thatch. Lawn grasses grow best in a soil pH between 6.5 and 7. Wet, it feels slick or even slippery. Lets air, water and fertilizer down to the roots! If you did the worm count mentioned above, check the sides of the hole. Trees can be selectively pruned to provide a little more sunlight and also improve … (When the dirt is hard, the digging is harder.) Sometimes you have to destroy your lawn in order to save it. An easy way to improve the look of your grass is to apply some lawn fertiliser. 3. Step 2. The best way to keep your lawn looking great year after year is to fertilize, water, and mow it properly. Leaving clippings returns useful nutrients, cutting the amount of fertilizer the lawn needs by about 30 percent. That means you should probably cut your grass every 5 to 10 days on average, as 76 percent of you do. Think outside it. Even if your lawn already makes the neighbors green with envy, you're likely to face a few of those common lawn problems. Leaves block sunlight. Striking the balance of care needed for a successful lawn takes a bit of research and some practice. Prevents crabgrass, dandelions and many other common weeds. Also known as creeping Charlie, creeping Jenny, and gill-over-the-ground, ground ivy spreads by seed and by the vining stems that root at each node. Power raking will remove excess organic material and aerate the soil to allow your new lawn to take root, so you want to leave just the barest layer (about 1/4 inch) of thatch on the … Mowing the lawn. A motion-activated sprinkler system might help discourage droppings, but it won't distinguish between dogs, deliverymen, and welcome guests. That’s in fact exactly what you are trying to do — but don’t use a lot of pressure. The home kits are relatively easy to use, but be sure to get a good one so that you can trust the results. It's easy to fix an ugly lawn if you learn the proper techniques. Finally, and this one may come as a surprise, walking on the lawn when it is frozen or snowy will lead to compaction. It may start choking out the grass, and it may prevent light rain or watering from reaching the soil where it’s needed. Compaction is so common that some parts of your yard probably have compacted earth unless you aerate and add organic matter regularly. If you’ve got twenty-five worms or more, you soil qualifies as “rich.” Congratulations! If it comes up easily, like rolling up carpet, you've got grubs. One of the best lawn-maintenance savers is less frequent but deeper watering. Fertilize northern lawns once in the spring and then two or three more times in the fall, one month apart, with the final application just before the final mowing of the year. The small, fuzzy flowers confirm its identification. Only 32 percent of you fertilized as often as you should. Don't bother with animal repellents; they're of little or no use, according to the experts we interviewed. Pros often do it yearly, but every few years is probably fine unless your lawn looks bad. Use a specialized, fork-like tool to pull plants and taproots out by hand. If you don’t, you need to add compost, worm food. But because moles can dig deeper than that and occasionally travel short distances above ground, even barriers are only marginally effective. Aerating “fluffs up” the soil that’s already there. You may not want to cut into your lawn, but it’s the only way to get an accurate reading of the soil underneath, as the garden dirt right next to it probably gets treated very differently. While herbicides with triclopyr or 2,4-D are effective solutions, the EPA considers 2,4-D a possible human carcinogen. You can kill moss with a spray, but unless you change the conditions that encourage it, back it will come. Packed earth impedes the movement of air, water, and roots themselves, and the grass suffers. Not only will it be more functional, it may look better, too. Neither extreme is conducive to most plants, and a soil pH too far from that preferred by a particular plant means that it will not be able to gain access to the nutrients it needs. Most lawn grasses don't like shade, even "shade-tolerant" varieties. The latter are "often problematic, "because people put them on and forget about them," says Ali Harivandi, Ph.D., environmental horticulturist at the. Easy to use, just connect to your garden hose and treat problem areas. Shallow, 2-3cm (1in), pricking or slitting will help. Those patches are weed-magnets, and if you don’t fill them with grass, then nature will fill them for you — and probably not with grass. Remember, climate determines not only the type of grass that grows best in your yard but also problems that might beset your lawn. Then fill in the hole with clean topsoil and reseed the area in early fall. It covers a large area with even, light streams of water to prevent washing away seed. Raking only once or twice each fall, as 57 percent of those surveyed did, just isn't enough. See our, Deciding When It's Time to Upgrade Your Child's Car Seat, University of California Cooperative Extension. There are ways to improve an old lawn and … If you dug that hole, you probably noticed when the going got tough and you started hitting stones or cement-like clay. Mineral content. Low numbers indicate high acidity; high numbers indicate high alkalinity. Pull out any plants that become established in or near your lawn. Step 1. Almost half of you hire others to fertilize, mow, apply chemical treatments, aerate the lawn, or do spring and fall cleanups. While pruning most shade trees every three to five years is usually a good idea, pruning too often or too much can damage the tree. Sometimes it helps to start with the purely imaginary, before you’re brought back to earth by reality. Silt will feel powdery when dry, and will hold together somewhat if you squeeze a lump or roll it out. Generally, you'll get more accurate test results and better recommendations from a professional lab. Even thinking about thinking about all this can be exhausting, but it’s probably worth tackling. Remember all those movies in which the farmer squats down, picks up a handful of earth, and feels it? Soil, or core, aeration is the solution. Knowing the square footage of your yard not only makes it easy to calculate seed and fertilizer needs, but it also protects you from awkward social situations, such as this sort of exchange at the seed counter: Its best to get out there with a tape measure and do the math. (Just be aware that some hardy survivors from the old lawn will probably make it to the top of the new one.). What do you do with it? If you decide to use those broadleaf herbicides, apply them in fall, not spring. Use natural lawn fertilizers. Watering once a week—long enough to apply 1 … You'll need to water in cycles. Repeat every 6 to 12-inches or more often in highly compacted areas. Soil beneath most lawns eventually becomes hard and compacted, even if you prepared it perfectly before planting. Repeat until a full inch of water is applied to the soil. Seriously, subsoil performs important functions in the structure of soil, but it’s not what you want near the top. Answers to these questions will help you determine your lawn needs. Then keep crabgrass at bay by feeding the desirable grasses with ample water and fertilizer—and by mowing high. When it comes to growing and maintaining a thriving landscape, homeowners have a lot of options. Its NPK ratio promotes strong growth and keeps your yard looking good through the ups and downs that each year brings. Vigorous, adaptable, and fast-growing, crabgrass thrives best in lawns that are underfertilized and mowed too low. Bromethalin, the active ingredient in a new mole bait, is a chemical alternative to mole traps. Moss prefers acidic soil but will grow in alkaline soil if shade and moisture are favorable. Watering once a week—long enough to apply 1 inch of water over the lawn—is the old rule of thumb. You don’t need to know these with great precision (at least not all of them), but you need a ballpark estimate. However, deeper spiking is better, especially with a tool designed to leave holes 10-15cm (4 … Start your renovation by identifying problem areas of your lawn and removing dead or declining patches of turf. For a quicker fix, cut out the dead spot and fill it in with plugs cut from a strip of sod. If you do use these, as with all herbicides and pesticides, be sure to wear rubber gloves, eye protection, long pants, closed shoes, and a long-sleeved shirt. Those bothersome rodent-like critters tunnel through soil searching for earthworms, grubs, and ants. With a sharp, narrow trowel, dig out a “core sample” from your lawn — a grass plug about six inches deep — and look at the root depth. But your lawn might need more or less. The soil should not be either soaking wet or bone dry. While glyphosate and glufosinate-ammonium are effective chemical remedies, the EPA considers glyphosate moderately toxic. Topsoil is thin — less than 6 inches deep. Bring a clump from your lawn to the nursery to match grass types. Lawns that have not been recently aerated are likely to be compacted, as are those in recently built subdivisions where building and landscaping were done by machine. Beyond that, though, you will need professional help. "By the time most fungus disease is obvious, the conditions that caused it have passed. Don’t stop at finding the best grass seed for your neck of the woods; think also about adding rock, meadow or ornamental grasses, shrubs, and garden beds. Measure. Check with your cooperative extension service for the ideal height for your type. Fungus must be diagnosed and treated before grass begins to die—a challenge for most homeowners because it's hard to spot or identify. What's more, that patch of dead grass is likelier to have been caused by your neighbor's dog than by fungus. Fertilize? Soil pH, measured on a scale from 0 to 14, is a measure of soil acidity, with 7 being neutral. Texture: sand, clay, silt. If the dirt runs loosely through your fingers, like sand, it has poor soil structure. Water your lawn deeply and less often. Knowing how to handle them can mean the difference between working on your lawn and simply enjoying it. Type(s). The percentage of nitrogen in a fertilizer is indicated by the first number on the bag, so with a 20-10-10 fertilizer (20 percent nitrogen), you should apply 5 pounds of fertilizer per 1,000 square feet. The more you walk on the lawn, the faster the soil compacts. Do you care whether you have broad or fine-bladed grass? Assuming it holds together, give it a little squeeze and wiggle your fingers as if you were trying to break it up with your thumb and fingers. Root Depth. Wait a couple of days and reseed or replant any damaged areas. How does it look, over all? In Phoenix, that might mean Bermuda; in Tampa, St. Augustine; in Omaha, buffalo grass; in Albany, Kentucky bluegrass. Aerate? Most use branching algorithms, so you make a basic choice between two possibilities, which takes you to another page, where you make another choice. First of all, approximately what percent of your lawn is weeds? It grows in moist soil and shade as well as full sun. While selective herbicides with a combination of 2,4-D, MCPP, and dicamba are effective chemical alternatives, the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) considers 2,4-D and MCPP possible human carcinogens. ), or you can pull up representative samples and drop in at your county extension office, where you’ll probably have to pay a small fee, or you can do the job yourself. Texture focuses on the mineral content, ignoring the organic material. pH imbalances can be corrected with appropriate soil amendments. “Grass-cycle” your grass clippings. Regular top-dressing is the only way to improve the soil under an existing lawn; if the soil is seriously poor, you can top-dress in both spring and autumn for quicker results. How do you repair a crappy, scrappy, weed-infested lawn? In either case, you’ll need to amend your soil to improve its drainage. While harpoon-type mole traps work best, handling them is risky and requires skill. Note what plants are located where, and sketch in existing structures, trees, shrubs and grass. As with soil structure, you can get a feel, literally, for your soil texture by picking up a bit. You must remove or kill the entire root, or the plant will resprout. To improve your lawn, though, you need to know your soil’s texture, structure, and density; its pH, organic content, and mineral content; and finally its depth. First, digging in bone-dry dirt is really really difficult. Several options require less water and no mowing — always a plus. What's more, both chemicals require multiple applications and must be applied during periods of active growth. Easy to use, just place your foot in the stirrup and step down firmly; pull straight up. For too many of us, the lawn becomes a box. Or wait until grass-planting time—usually in the fall—and sow fresh seed after clearing away the dead grass and loosening the soil. There is no selective herbicide or other shortcut for those weeds. Check by sticking a shovel into the ground after watering. Moles tend to tunnel closer to the surface in spring when soil is moist, leaving a zigzag trail of raised soil. Then we spoke with lawn-care experts to learn which practices work best and why. Made from one solid piece of steel and set into a walnut handle with brass rivets. Azalea, Canada hemlock, common boxwood, flowering quince, Japanese boxwood, Japanese holly, lilac, myrtle, privet, rhododendron, roses, and winterberry can be cut back as far as needed. So homeowners wind up treating the symptom—dead grass—not the cause," says Zac Reicher, professor of turfgrass science at Purdue University. Is it one of your pet projects, or is it the step-sister to the garden, which you love? What’s your weed tolerance? Nitrogen in the urine kills the grass in the center, where its concentration is highest, while darkening the grass at the edges. If your poor drainage area is a relatively small one and not too severe, you can lighten the soil by working in lots of organic matter. Products with dithiopyr, prodiamine, or pendimethalin are typical chemical alternatives. You might know the answer, but if you don’t (and that would make you like most of us) you’ve got several options. Maintain a healthy and vigorous lawn so that ground ivy has less chance of gaining a foothold. Mix with grass seed and add to bare spots. Grass loves sun, so if you have shaded areas you may want to put another form of ground cover there. 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