Everyone wants a fast green-up for their lawn. In today’s lawn care blog post by Spokane’s Finest Lawns, we’ll give you some tips and tricks from your local lawn care professionals with locations in Spokane and Spokane Valley.
If you aren’t the DIY type, we are for hire! Contact us for a lawn care quote in 2021.
Proper Fertilization Creates Deep Green Lawns
When you see a beautiful lawn, we also guarantee that the lawn is receiving proper fertilization. It is really hard to achieve a lush, green lawn without proper fertilization.
So, what do we mean by ‘proper fertilization?’ We mean a couple of things…
- Use the right fertilizer for the time of year
- Calibrate your application equipment
- Get the timing right
The Basics Of Fertilization
You may have noticed bags of fertilizer have different numbers on them. Fertilizer consists of three main elements, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Nitrogen promotes growth and that green color we are going after. Phosphorous helps the turf develop a fuller root system. Potassium keeps stems strong and promotes the overall health of grass plants. The type of fertilizer used should change as the growth habits of the turf changes throughout the season.
It is all for not if you are not applying the fertilizer at the correct rate! Too little fertilizer and your lawn will not receive enough nutrients. Too much fertilizer could burn your lawn during the summer months, or even worse, runoff into nearby water supplies such as lakes and rivers.
Timing is everything. Grass plants are constantly under stress from the climate to wear and tear as you use your lawn. The key is to provide the nutrients to your lawn when it needs it most. We’ve fine-tuned our lawn treatment timing over time. We recommend checking out this article from seattle.gov if you’d like to learn more about timing on your own.
Consider Aerating or De-Thatching Your Lawn
Please note we do not offer aerating or dethatching services in 2021. It simply did not fit our business model, but it is something we still highly recommend aerating your lawn and possibly dethatching if your lawn needs to be dethatched.
Core aerating is actually most beneficial if performed in the fall. But if you believe your lawn is suffering from soil compaction, by all means, aerate your lawn in the spring. Aerating can actually be beneficial during the summer months as it will help water and nutrients travel deeper into the hard, dry soil.
De-thatching is only needed if your thatch layer grows too large. Some thatch is beneficial. A ‘healthy thatch’ layer keeps moisture retained in your soil. An excessive thatch layer impedes water and nutrients from ever reaching the soil!
Follow Lawn Mowing Best Practices
Yes. Beautiful lawns are also mowed properly, and yes, we do mow lawns in Spokane County!
The gist of what you need to know about lawn mowing can be boiled down to these simple pointers:
- Mow high – Mowing your grass ‘taller’ helps retain moisture in the soil
- The 1/3 rule – Mow often enough that you only remove 1/3 or less of the grass blade each mowing
- Grasscycle – Return the clippings to your lawn, it’s natural fertilization
- Keep your blades sharp – Sharp lawn mower blades cut grass, while dull mower blades tear grass
The Basics of Lawn Mowing
No. Cutting your grass at a higher setting does not mean you will have to cut more often! Uneven grass is the grass that ‘looks like it needs to be cut.’ Not tall grass! We are talking cutting at a height of 3.5″ to 4.5″ instead of 2.5″ to 3″. This makes a huge difference over the summer months.
The 1/3 rule is just a fancy way to say, “Cut your grass before it becomes a jungle!” Cutting your grass on a regular basis makes it a much more enjoyable experience too. Trust us! ?
If you didn’t know, by grasscycling, or returning the clippings to the lawn instead of bagging them, you will actually provide approximately 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. of turf throughout the growing season. Who doesn’t like free, natural fertilization!?
If you have even seen ‘frosted white tips’ on grass blades, you have seen a lawn cut with a lawn mower with dull blades! And, it looks down-right awful! We hope you have not experienced this and never do. Keep those lawn mower blades sharp!
Hire Us To Care For Your Spokane County Lawn
So, hopefully, you have a better understanding of how to green up your lawn this spring and keep it green all summer long.
Along with offering lawn treatment programs and lawn mowing services, we also start up and shut down irrigation systems. We didn’t really touch on proper watering habits in this lawn as they don’t apply to the spring as we typically have plenty of rainfall. Definitely consider watering your lawn over the summer months whether you have an irrigation system or not.
If you are not the DIY-type, give Jose a call today to discuss your lawn care needs.