Start Them Young

Since I was 9 years old, I can remember being obsessed with green grass. At that age is when my dad had me start mowing the lawn, so I began to notice other yards nearby and how they looked compared to ours.Our lawn was always one of the greenest and most lush, but as we know, the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. The old man who backed up to our backyard had the most amazing lawn I have seen to this day. Now he was also pretty grumpy, but man was his lawn lush. So I began to pay more attention to what he did so that I could one day have a lawn as green as his, and it surprised me with how simple his process was.

THE GRUMPY OLD MANS PROCESS TO A GREEN LAWN

• Fertilize heavily at the end of each season. (OCTOBER)
• Fertilize lightly early in the season. (FEB-MARCH)
• Fertilize every six weeks unless there is a big rainstorm coming through close to the 6 week mark.
• Water 3 times a week.
• Kill weeds as soon as they come up.
• Use soil conditioner at the beginning and end of each season.

 

One of the biggest problems I have seen while being in the lawn care business for 15 years is either doing too much, or nothing at all. I personally have usually fallen in the category of trying to do too much and I’ll tell you why that is bad. If you are constantly putting down different chemicals and sprays, fertilizing every 3-4 weeks, mowing at different heights, and always changing up your watering times/days, it doesn’t allow for your lawn to get into a good rhythm of growth. Consistency is key, especially when it comes to yards. So be patient, find a good system for your type of grass and your type of soil, and stick to it year after year. When it comes to doing too little, this is what I mean. I will have clients call or text me asking why their yard looks so bad even though they are watering every day, and my obvious response is that just watering will not do the trick. First, watering every day is wasting water and drowning the grass. Watering too often does not allow for a brawny root system to be established. They need to be adding fertilizer and soil conditioner while spraying lawn weeds and watering 3 days a week.

So, if your lawn is not where it needs to be, here are some simple steps to get it greened up

 

KILL THE WEEDS IN YOUR LAWN

Start by spraying and killing all the weeds in the grass. Even if none are visible, there are most likely some growing beneath the grass and not yet visible. Weeds can take over and keep your grass from growing, suffocating it thus allowing for more weeds to grow. Usually, the highest amount of weed growth is going to be very early in the spring for cool grasses like Kentucky Blue Grass and Ryegrass. If you have lots of clover, the Ortho Weed B Gone Chickweed, Clover & Oxalis Killer would be the best spray to use and I have attached that product below. It covers up to 6400 sqft which is about the average size of a half acre lot and will give you quick results. For all other weeds, I would recommend using the Spectracide Weed & Feed which sprays up to 7500 sqft which is not quite a three quarter acre lot. The nice thing about the Spectracide Weed & Feed is that it kills the weeds and fertilizes the lawn. Results will take up to 4 weeks to truly see a significant difference, but you should see most weeds dying within a couple of days. I am actually going to order both of these and do a side by side comparison over 4 weeks so stay tuned for that!

 

 

FERTILIZE

After spraying the weeds, wait a couple of days and then fertilize your lawn heavily, unless you used the Spectracide Weed & Feed, which in that case means you can wait 5-6 weeks to fertilize. Fertilizing is the number one way to get a green lawn in my opinion. Lawns need nutrients to grow, utilize the water you’re giving it, fight off weeds, insects, and diseases, and beat the heat of the summer. By applying adequate amounts of fertilizer at the right time, you are almost guaranteed a green lawn. Being that I have Kentucky blue grass, I use a high nitrogen based fertilizer from a place called IFA country stores. They have a 4 step program which is their most popular fertilizer and it really does work wonders when put down in the correct amount and at the right time. Anything with a high nitrogen base, which is the first number in the 3 number series on a bag of fertilizer will be great. Make sure not to put too much down or else you could run the risk of burning the lawn. You want to make sure you’re able to water it in heavily after you put down a granular fertilizer. If you would rather use a spray use, the Advanced 16-4-8 by Simple Lawn Solutions is a fantastic option.

CONDITION SOIL

One of the main reasons people aerate is to help loosen up the soil and provide opportunities for new grass to grow. What many don’t also realize however, is that this allows for weeds to grow and for diseases and bad grass to be spread to different lawns. Unless the aerator being used is thoroughly cleaned after each lawn, you run the risk of these things. So, as a great, and in many ways better alternative to aerating, I recommend conditioning the soil. There are a couple different products you can use. The first is called HUMATE which is found at IFA country stores but can also be found at your local agricultural store if I were to guess. Humate is essentially an organic compound that is an important component of humus, the major organic fraction of soil. What it does is helps keep in moister, add needed nutrients to the soil, and act as a topsoil for new and existing grass. Ten pound per 1000 sqft of Humate should be put down to see the best results. Humic acid can also be found in the liquid spray form and I like to use the Root Hume by Simple Grow Solutions.

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