Whether you are trying to sell your home or simply want your lawn to look its best, make sure you are doing everything possible. For most of us, lawn care is limited to watering from time to time and cutting it when it gets too long. However, in order to create a healthy and attractive lawn, a bit more care is required. Here are five tips that can help your lawn this year.

What Kind of Grass Do You Have?

When you are taking care of a lawn, the first step is determining what type of grass you have in order to give it the best care. If you didn’t lay down the grass yourself, find out what kind of grass you have before you do anything else.

Here are some of the basic grass types:

Bahia

Bentgrass

Bermuda

Bluegrass

Buffalo

Carpet

Centipede grass

Fescue

Rye

St. Augustine

Zoysia

Check with Tru Green or do some basic research on the internet to view images of the various types of grass and compare them with your lawn.

Once you know what the type of grass you have, determine if there are any special needs that this particular type will require.

Fertilize, Fertilize, Fertilize!

If you want to maintain your grass’s green color, begin to think about fertilization. Because your soil can only hold so many nutrients from season to season (especially when you have your home for a long period of time), you need to reintroduce those nutrients by fertilizing.

Since you now know the type of grass you need, you can go out and purchase the appropriate fertilizer. Apply the fertilizer during a time when it will not be disturbed (i.e. before the colder seasons and at night) and then watering as recommended.

However, before you apply a fertilizer to your entire lawn, you might want to try out the fertilizer on a section of lawn that is unseen by others. This will allow you to preview the effectiveness of the fertilizer without applying it to the entire lawn

Watering Your Lawn

If you live in a drier climate, you will need to water your lawn more frequently than others. Watering can take place via an installed sprinkler system, a sprinkler that you move into the preferred area, or via a hose. Each of these options has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Installed sprinkler system - When you don’t have the time to take care of watering your lawn, you can program a system to take care of it for you. This system can be expensive, but is maintained by the installation company and will last for years without needing repairs. This system can also help to control water costs as you can adjust the water pressure and the number of watering times. You will also get a more even coverage of the watering since the sprayers will be professionally installed.

Traditional sprinkler - With a traditional sprinkler, you can focus your attention on certain parts of the lawn, moving the sprinkler as you see fit. A traditional sprinkler is an inexpensive item to buy, but because you have to move the sprinkler around and the water pressure cannot be controlled, it can be expensive in terms of water costs.

Hose - Needless to say, the hose option is often the most wasteful of water. Since it’s difficult to control the spray, you can end up spending more time on your lawn without getting the results that you want.

Trim Your Lawn Often

It’s important that you trim your lawn regularly in order to allow the right amount of sunshine onto the blades of grass. When the blades are not getting enough sun, they will begin to turn brown and to die.

Depending on the rate of growth, try to trim about once a week, but not too closely to the ground. A few inches of grass are best for proper growth and thickness.

- [ Contact the Author] [ Send to a Friend] [ Article Publisher] [Make PDF] [ Print] [ Bookmark] [ Digg!]   About Lawn Mowers Submitted By: Pencil Writer   [Word Count: 646 words] [Viewed: 7 time(s)] [Don’t forget to rate this article] [Report this article]   A lawn mower is a tool used in the gardens for mowing grass over the lawns. There are various types of mowers depending on the need and necessity of the user. Basically there are two types of mowers, the cylinder and the Rotary mowers. A cylinder mower is designed for an efficient cleaning system which helps to maintain a neat lawn at regular intervals. They are commonly used in tennis courts and other formal places where the lawn should look very professional and neat. A rotary mower is useful in places where mowing of grass has not been done for quite sometime and has much of rough grass grown. The next thing is the size of a mower. They are sized according to the width of grass being cut; some cut up to 41cm of grass, some cut up t o 28cm etc. The wider a mower is the fewer sweeps it needs to finish its work. Usually the rule is that the bigger the lawn, the bigger the mower. If the area is huge, then a rider mower is more useful. The next factor to be considered is the power that operates the mower. There are electrical and petrol-run lawn mowers. The electrical ones are lighter in weight, inexpensive and more convenient to use. However, if used in a denser lawn place, it can get tangled between the grasses. They should not be used in wet grass as well. They are fit to be used in a smaller area as they get over heated if used in a bigger area. On the other hand, petrol mowers are ideal to be used in a larger stretch of area as they do not need any electrical connection and also do not get heated up very soon. They however need more of maintenance and are expensive to the former. The third type is the one that is powered by rechargeable batteries. This is quite useful, except to the fact that the power and efficiency with which it cuts the grass is less when compared to the other models. The next factor is how the mower moves. The answers are hover, wheels and rollers. Hovers are quite good for the small gardens and are inexpensive when the others are considered. Since they do not have wheels, they have to be carried to each and every place. Though they cannot cut very near the ground, they still give a good and neat finish. They cannot be used well on banks or slopes. The second type is rollers that come in cylinder mowers. They also help in leveling the ground, apart from cutting the grass, and so are very useful that way. Since rollers are attached, they also keep a steady level of the machines and so can do a better job leveling the grass and land. Wheels are the next type that give good mobility and maneuverability to the mowers machines. Also some mowers come with a grass collection box that helps in keeping the mower area neat and tidy. The grass is collected in a box which can be emptied in equal intervals and then used again. In case a mower does not have a collection tray, then the grass that is mowed is dropped on the soil itself which is left to dry and become manure to the other grass growing. Few quick things to remember are that a power mower is not suitable for someone who cannot walk fast, whereas a heavy machine is useful for those who need a support while mowing. The main thing to note is that there should be an emergency stop button readily available in the mower to stop in emergency situations. It is necessary that a mower be chosen safely and diligently. The right type of mower is to be chosen depending on the person who is to use the machine. Article Tags: grass, mower, mowers Tags yard-maintenance Topics: yard-maintenance | Comments You must be logged in to post a comment. The GreenHouse Landscaping (210) 843-5004 | San Antonio Landscaping by Adolph Marroquin (210) 843-5004 Clean Copy Full Theme by Cory Miller Design | Made free by Copywriter Michel Fortin