How To Achieve The “Ideal” Lawn
We've all seen the pictures by now, beautiful dark green luscious lawns with those perfect lines that are so straight you could run a laser along them, and every single spring you walk out the front door and just imagine what it would be like if your own lawn looked that good. Well, today is the day that you are going to find out how to achieve that goal and make it happen!
When thinking about your lawn this spring, try to compare it to the most perfect cake that you've ever eaten in your life. The one that puts every other cake to shame. Now, with this cake, we all know the baker didn't just throw some eggs, flour, and butter in a pan and stick it in the oven and hope it came out the way they wanted it to. Lawn maintenance can be compared to baking in many ways.
First off, it takes time!
It can take months, maybe even a year or two, to achieve your ideal lawn. Like baking, it's all about the preparation, it takes the perfect ingredients to achieve what you are looking for. In lawn maintenance, some of those ingredients come long before spring rolls around. In lawn maintenance, one of the ingredients that is a “must-have” comes when you are thinking about your lawn the least.
Aeration.
Aeration is an aspect to lawn maintenance that is overlooked by so many but can help achieve the “ideal” lawn in so many ways. It reduces soil compaction which can promote the air exchange between the atmosphere and your lawn. Just like everything else that's alive in this world those roots need to breathe!
Another great thing aeration can do for your lawn is it can reduce thatch, which is a thin layer of decomposing organic matter on your lawn's surface. Yes, you might be thinking “well thatch sounds like a great thing for lawn health”. It is, but as the saying goes, it is always possible to have too much of a good thing.
Now if we take aeration and combine it with overseeding in the early fall months, your lawn is a match made in heaven! Overseeding and aeration taking place at the same time can allow your lawn to thrive and help get through those dormant winter months.
The next ingredient in a perfect lawn can be achieved when it really matters…that spring day when the birds are chirping, and you finally decide it's time to kick off the season and roll that old mower out of the shed and lay down some stripes.
But wait!
As you stand there filling up the tank and letting the mower get warmed up after a long cold winter, you think to yourself “what height should I cut my lawn at”? The answer to that question by many is “short enough where I don't have to worry about it for a week or two”.
Wrong!
When choosing the ideal length for your lawn, taller is always better. Now, there are exceptions to this because we are talking about a neighborhood lawn and not a hayfield. A good rule of thumb for any lawn is to always be around the 3” mark. After all, you can't achieve those sweet straight lines with a bald yard.
The next ingredient in the recipe is water. Like everything else that lives on this earth, your lawn requires water for proper growth. It is recommended that your lawn gets 1” to 1.5” of water weekly.
This can be achieved in many ways.
The perfect amount of rain is always the ideal factor that we all hope for each week, (but as we all know we can't count on Mother Nature for that). Installing a proper irrigation system to cover every spot of your lawn is great or you can even a hose with a sprinkler!
With all these factors to achieving an “ideal” lawn, you might be thinking to yourself “wow this is a lot more work than I thought! Maybe I should leave this up to the professionals.”
You’re not wrong!
Lawn maintenance is a long and vigorous journey that takes time and passion. If you are looking to achieve that “ideal” lawn and come home to a vision you can be proud of everyday contact, Amazing Outdoors for the help you and your lawn needs to get on track this spring!
~Bradley