How to Cultivate a Lawn that is Healthy and Beautiful

When it comes to lawn care, there are probably a lot of details that you haven’t thought about. Cultivating a lawn that is healthy and beautiful requires much more work than just a weekly mowing.

At Go Greener, we pride ourselves on providing lawn and ground maintenance that goes beyond what the neighborhood kid can provide. After years of providing both residential and commercial lawn care, we thought we’d share our top three lawn care tips, while also giving you an inside look at how we can make your lawn stand out.

1. Give Your Lawn the Food it Needs

Did you know that to grow a thriving lawn, you need to feed it? Beyond that, there is a specific schedule you should follow according to the season. At Go Greener, we follow a feeding schedule to create a healthier, stronger root system. A stable root system will help your lawn combat heat, cold, drought, mowing, and other stressors.

Most people forget this important step in lawn care. If you want to make a big difference in how your lawn looks all year long, here are the four key times you need to feed your lawn.

Early Spring:

After a long, hard Michigan winter, your lawn needs a little TLC before spring gets into full swing. At Go Greener, we recommend using a combination product that not only provides nourishment to restore your lawn but also helps control crabgrass.

Late Spring:

As the days heat up and the rain continues to fall, your lawn is busy growing! It probably feels like your lawn needs to be mowed every other day (It doesn’t!). During this growing season, it is important to keep your lawn properly fed. Again, we use a combination product that feeds your lawn and also contains broadleaf weeds.

Summer:

As much as Michiganders love summer, taking care of your lawn can feel like a full-time job. During the summer months, it’s important to feed your lawn with a product that keeps it safe from the stresses of extreme heat. Another factor to consider is insects. If you see insects buzzing about your lawn, opt for a combination product that also contains insect control.

Fall:

As the temperature starts to cool, we want to make sure that we give your lawn the best growing conditions to recover from any summer damage. This is not the time to ignore your lawn! This final feeding is vital in helping prepare your lawn for winter.

2. Keep Your Lawn Hydrated

We’ve all been there. One week you have a beautiful green lawn full of life. Then you go on vacation for a week and there is a heatwave. Once you get home, your yard is a brown, crunchy mess.

Hydration is key to keeping your lawn healthy and attractive. At Go Greener, we take hydration seriously and encourage all of our clients to follow a set watering schedule to keep their lawn’s root system healthy.

How Often/Long Should a Lawn be Watered?

Depending on the weather, we recommend that you water your lawn one to two times per week. Because of how much the weather fluctuates in Michigan, there are different amounts of time you should spend watering your lawn in the spring, summer, and fall months. Here are the guidelines we follow:

* March: 17 minutes
* April: 40 minutes
* May: 64 minutes
* June: 50 minutes
* July: 49 minutes
* August: 60 minutes
* September: 48 minutes

How to Deal with Water Restrictions:

Depending on where you live and the summer temperatures, there may be water-use restrictions during the hotter months of the year. Be sure to check with your local water department to find out the local regulations.

Another way you can optimize your watering schedule is to avoid watering your lawn between 10 am and 4 pm. This will help reduce water loss through evaporation.

3. Don’t Give Your Lawn a Buzz Cut

One of the most common mistakes people make when caring for a residential or commercial lawn is cutting the grass too short. While it may be tempting to give your lawn a buzz cut (with the hope of fewer mowing sessions), it will only result in more work. Here are the reasons we try to stick to mowing each lawn only once a week.

Why You Shouldn’t Cut Your Lawn Too Short:

While a freshly cut lawn looks nice, a lawn that has been cut too short can experience a variety of problems. First things first. Do you know how we just stressed how important it is to feed your lawn regularly throughout the year? Well, if your grass is extremely short it will not be able to manufacture as much food for itself.

In addition, cutting your grass too short will reduce the root system – which in turn weakens your grass and decreases its ability to withstand stressors. Finally, this mistake will, in turn, restrict your grasses ability to absorb water and nutrients. So, don’t give in to the temptation to cut it extra short just so you can go longer between mowing sessions!

What is the Best Length to Cut Your Lawn?

A surprising fact to many people is that there is actual science behind the length you cut your grass. No, the neighborhood kid, although well-intentioned, probably doesn’t know these standards either.

Current grass cutting standards recommend cutting your lawn between 2 and 3.75 inches for optimal performance. This should keep your lawn looking and feeling healthy.

At Go Greener, we follow a 3.5-inch cutting standard to give each lawn a lush and clean look. We want your lawn to look healthy and tidy between mowing sessions.

Getting the Most Out of Mowing:

One of the questions we hear a lot from potential lawn care customers is “how do you keep your clients’ lawns so healthy?” Beyond feeding it and keeping it hydrated, the tools and methods we use make a big difference.

As we mentioned before, we highly recommend following a once a week mowing schedule as long as the weather permits. We also try to only mow when the lawn is dry to prevent clumping.

One of the most important things you can do is to care professionally for your lawnmower. It is vital to keep your blades sharp. If you use dull blades, they will tear your grass instead of cut it. This will result in a lawn that browns.

Another thing we do is leaving the grass clippings on your lawn to help restore nutrients in the dirt. We also train all of our professionals to mow in straight lines and to trim the yard with every mowing session.

As you can see, there is a lot more to caring for your lawn than filling up the mower with gas and doing a few rounds in your yard. To have the healthiest, most vibrant lawn on the block, make sure your lawn is fed, hydrated, and cut to the right length.

Don’t have time to care for your lawn as it deserves? Contact Go Greener for your free quote!