Landscaping

New Blog: Four Mistakes to Avoid When Caring for Your Lawn

While it would be great if everyone had unlimited time to maintain their lawn and outdoor space, the reality is that most homeowners generally only have the weekends to tend to their gardens and grass. For many, hiring a landscaping company is the best option to keep lawns looking green all summer long.

But for those who still prefer to take on lawn maintenance on their own, here are a few tips to help you out.

Mistakes to Avoid

Landscaping, in general, is a time-intensive process, and you can benefit from the experience and expertise of landscaping company near you. However, if you understand a few common mistakes that are made, your grass will look nice, green, and thick.

Not watering enough is a common mistake. If you have a home sprinkler system installed, watering is automated, and sprinklers generally do a pretty good job at getting the water deep down to the grass roots. But some people mistakenly delay their sprinkler systems if there’s any precipitation that day. While significant rainfall that lasts for a half an hour or so would be sufficient watering, a light afternoon shower that comes and goes in 15 minutes would not be enough. Water two to four times a week and at least 30 to 60 minutes each watering to ensure proper saturation.

Scalping your grass, which is when you cut the grass too short, is another common mistake. There is conflicting information available about how short to cut your lawn. Most landscaping services will tell you that three to four inches is the ideal height for your grass. You may have heard that cutting the grass shorter allows more sun to get to the grass and theoretically help thicken bald spots. The truth, however, is that bald spots and sunlight are more of a breeding ground for weeds than nice, thick grass. So keep your mower set to two to four inches and mow regularly so that you’re not cutting too much of the blade off at one time. As you get more comfortable with mowing, you start to worry about the lines and look of the grass, something that you’ll often see in commercial landscaping. But for now, get the basics down and add new skills in time.

Not feeding your lawn can lead to frustratingly brown or thin grass throughout the year. Generally, most people understand that you need to feed your lawn in the spring when the cold and snow starts to go away. But in reality, you should feed three more times after the initial fertilization (first in spring, then in late spring, once in summer, and then once in fall to prepare for winter).

Being impatient can also cause a lot of frustration. Earlier we mentioned that it might be tempting to expect a perfect, commercial-looking lawn with beautiful lines right away. But patience is almost as important as any other aspect of lawn care. Grass seeds don’t even really start to germinate for a couple of weeks, so don’t go out every day expecting miraculous new growth. Give it some time, avoid making the mistakes we’ve talked about here, and your lawn will look great in time for summer. But, if you’re tapped for time, there’s a lot of value in hiring a reputable landscaping company. More than just lawns, the financial ROI you get from an investment in your landscape can be significant. Spending even as little as 5% of your home’s total value can result in a total return of 150% if you ever decide to sell. In the meantime, you want to enjoy your outdoor space as much as possible!