It should come as no surprise that Americans love their yards. In a recent study of 2,034 adults in the United States, approximately 75% say that they find spending outside in their yards is an important thing to do. This study was conducted by the National Association of Landscape Professionals (NALP). In terms of having a yard, at least 83% of Americans say it is important and 90% of the people who have one report they think maintaining it correctly is very important. When it comes to selling a home, almost all real estate professionals (97%) say they tell their clients that improving their landscaping should be one of the first five things they do to their homes before they sell them. They also say they will get a 215% return on investment. The bottom line is that caring for lawns is important to most people in the United States.
There are things people can do to keep their lawns looking really great, here are some of them:
- Be careful how much you cut from your grass. When you mow your lawns, care needs to be taken to not take off more than one third. If too much of the grass is taken off, it hurts it. Lawns that are cut too far have a hard time growing and start to look brown. By the same token, if you let your grass grow too long, you may have trouble mowing it so your best bet is to schedule regular mowings.
- Long grass equals long roots. Healthy grass has long roots. That can be encouraged by letting it grow longer. Longer grass is also better able to deal with diseases, draught and insects (and other pests).
- The mower blades should be as sharp as possible. Grass that is cut with very sharp blades looks a whole lot better than grass that has been cut with dull blades. This is because of fact that sharp blades produce clean cuts. Lawns that are cut with sharp mower blades have an easier time recovering from being mowed.
- Fertilizer is your friend. In order to maintain a healthy and happy lawn, you have to feed it. The timing of your feeding is critical to the fertilizer’s efficacy and depends a lot on where you live. You should talk to lawn experts in your area to get the best time line for successful fertilization.
- Learn to recognize damage to lawns by diseases, insects and weeds. If you start to notice that you have brown circles or dry areas, it is a sign that you need to pay some attention to your yard. These brown circles and dry spots can be caused by any number of causes but if they are left untreated, it will encourage more problems. If you have insects or a fungal infestation, you will notice dead grass in those areas. It is always advisable to talk to a qualified weed professional. They can diagnose and treat the problem and may be able to help prevent it from recurring.
- Water your lawn the right way. There is a good way and not so good way to water your lawn. First of all, time your watering for when the sun is not high in the sky. Early morning watering will get more water to the lawn and less to evaporation. Deep watering, which is when you water it longer, lets more of the water get to the roots than shallow watering, which does not. Every three days, you should do a deep water. You need to put out one inch of water for every for every foot of grass.
- Be careful with your irrigation. You should pay attention to your irrigation system. If you want to really water the right way, you need to have a properly working irrigation system. Some experts recommend taking five pins that are straight sided and positioning them around the yard. When you have the system on, make a note of how long it takes the water to reach the one inch mark. Walk around the yard and make sure the water is at the same height on all the pins. This should give you a sense of how you should adjust the sprinkler heads.
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