Lawn Care Tips 1

Lawn Care Tipsrn A beautiful lawn does not come without some effort. Depending upon what type of soil you have, the amount of effort will vary. For instance when raising trees and shrubs, sandy or a gravel base soil is great. Landscape plants like well drained soiled. A lawn on the other hand is different. Lawn grasses grow constantly throughout the growing season, and need an ample supply of both nutrients and water. The most basic of lawn care tips includes regular watering and fertilization is required to keep a lawn beautiful. If you're lucky enough to have a lawn that was originally planted in good rich topsoil, you won't have to work near as hard as somebody who has a lawn that is planted in sandy gravel. Lawns are one area where a little clay in the soil is a good thing. Of course standing water is not good, but having soil that has the ability to retain some moisture is helpful. If your gardener is installing a new lawn for you, here's a news flash from my lawn care tips that will make all the difference in the world: Add lots of organic matter before you install your new lawn if you have sand or gravel type soil. The easiest way to do this is to find some good rich topsoil and spread that over your existing soil. Because most lawn grasses grow so vigorously, they need additional amounts of nutrients added in order to stay looking nice. Just use one of the four step programs offered by the fertilizer companies. Most of these programs also include weed control along with the fertilizer. Crabgrass can be a problem, and I do consider it a weed. In order to control crabgrass you must use a pre-emergent herbicide that will prevent the crabgrass seeds from germinating. In order for this herbicide to be effective you must apply it early in the spring while the soil temperature is still below 7°C.rnLawn care tips continued . . .rnIf you happen to be installing a new lawn, make sure your gardener spray all the weeds and thick bladed grasses before you start. Once you have the lawn installed, you sure don't want to go through all the trouble of killing areas of your lawn and reseeding. If you make sure that all of these undesirables have been killed before you start, you'll be way ahead of the game. When selecting grass seed, you should always use a blend that is recommend for your area. In Ireland a popular blend contains fine bladed perennial rye grass, fescue, and blue grass. Keep in mind that it takes blue grass seeds 28 days to germinate, while most perennial rye grasses germinate in 5 or 6 days, so you never want to plant a lawn that is 100% blue grass. Before the blue grass seeds have a chance to germinate, every kind of weed imaginable will already be actively growing in your lawn. With a blend, the faster germinating grasses come up quick, and act as a nurse crop for the slower germinating seeds. Having a blend also gives you some protection in case some new pest comes along that attacks certain types of grasses.