As soil temperatures warm up and grass blades emerge from their dormant state, making your lawn green and thick becomes a concern for many homeowners.
If you share this dream for your lawn, you’re closer than you think. With the right steps, anyone can achieve a flawless, envy-worthy yard.
How to Make Your Lawn Green and Thick: A Guide to a Healthy Lawn
Developing a healthy lawn is not as difficult as you might think. Here are five simple things you can do:
- Improve your lawn’s soil
- Fertilization
- Mowing properly
- Overseeding for thickness
- Irrigation
Let’s dive into each of these a bit more.
Improve Your Lawn’s Soil
Soil holds the nutrients, air and water that grass needs to grow. Sadly, some homeowners do not have soil healthy enough to grow a rich lawn. But luckily, any soil can be improved.
Adding organic material is a solid move. No matter what type of soil your lawn has, organic matter like mulch or compost, when incorporated well, can enrich your grass and help it thrive.
Another key to creating healthy soil is fixing up the structure. Soil structure determines how easily water and nutrients reach grass roots. Aerating your lawn can open up spaces for smoother travel of nutrients while removing layers of dead matter that lumps between soil and blades, promoting a vibrant lawn. Proper oxygenation and moisture reaching the grass roots are essential for healthy growth.
Fertilization
If you are just beginning to enrich your lawn, applying a starter fertilizer can help establish strong grass roots. You can do this in early spring to kick-start growth. Remember to give the lawn a good soak after fertilizing to allow the grass to absorb nutrients from the fertilizer.
Remember that fertilizer selection isn’t one-size-fits-all. It is soil-specific and is best done with the help of a lawn care pro.
Mowing Properly
Mowing, especially during periods of rapid growth, is an opportunity to achieve a beautiful aesthetic on your lawn. Regular cutting also enhances the health of your grass, keeping it from becoming lanky.
Generally, never cut more than one-third of the grass blade. If your grass is five inches tall, aim to get it down to four inches.
It’s best to limit your lawn mowing to when the leaves are dry to prevent grass clumping and to preserve your mower. Ensure the blades are sharp to avoid stressing the leaves or tearing them up.
Overseeding for Thickness
Homeowners with impoverished lawns that require more watering and fertilizing to keep alive have discovered overseeding as an easy way to keep lawns lush and thick. This method can quickly revive lawns and replace insect-prone grasses.
Overseeding can also be a reliable way to get rid of weeds.
Irrigation
Manual watering easily skips our minds, and if you don’t have proper irrigation to maintain your lawn, all the hard work will be for nothing.
You can keep your lawn in peak condition by having a lawn care professional install an irrigation system or sprinklers to ensure even hydration across your lawn. For large lawns, tripod sprinklers can be an efficient way to cover more ground.
Choosing the Right Fertilizer for a Greener Lawn
A well-fertilized lawn gives rise to resilient roots that thrive better in drought, cold and other stressful conditions. Choosing the right grass seed for different soil types is crucial to support healthy root development and overall lawn vitality.
It is natural for soil to lose nutrients over time, especially during frequent heavy downpours. Not fertilizing could cause your lawn to thin out and make the grass prone to pests. Proper oxygenation and moisture reaching the grass roots are essential for maintaining a healthy lawn.
On the other hand, too much fertilizing could throw off delicate soil balance and allow disease to take hold. Understanding how to spread fertilizers is important. Maintaining overall lawn health through proper fertilization practices is key to achieving a lush and vibrant lawn.
If you feel overwhelmed by any step, get help from a lawn care professional. They can also help you answer questions about fertilizing, like “How much fertilizer for my lawn?”
How to Ensure Even Spreading of Fertilizers for a Healthier Lawn
Knowing how much fertilizer your lawn needs will be for nothing if the fertilizer is not well spread. Proper fertilization techniques are crucial for maintaining overall lawn health. Spreading the fertilizer right boils down to the type of spreader you use.
Drop spreaders, designed for defined narrow bands, work best for lawns with precise green stripes or with lots of landscaping. But if your lawn is wide, say 2,000 square feet or more, you should consider using a broadcast spreader.
Using the correct application pattern is also essential when it comes to spreading. You can look up the fertilizer label to find instructions for how to spread fertilizer or trust a lawn care pro to apply it properly.
What Fertilizer Makes Grass Greener?
One of the best-known hacks for a thick, fuller lawn is to focus on nitrogen-rich fertilizers. Nitrogen is a key nutrient for chlorophyll production, which is what gives plants their green pigment.
So, how do you spot a nitrogen-rich fertilizer? Before choosing a fertilizer, you need to understand concepts like the NPK ratio.
NPK is a representation of three main nutrients for plants: nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K).
The NPK ratio is a simple explanation to the popular question, “What do the numbers on fertilizer mean?” It is a percentage representation of the weight of these main plant nutrients. So, if a bag of fertilizer reads 10-13-10 on its label, it contains 10% nitrogen, 13% phosphorus and 10% potassium of the entire weight.
Now that you know how to recognize a nitrogen-filled feed for the green lawn you require, remember to carry out due diligence during the application. If you do not follow the manufacturer’s instructions during the application process, your lawn can become yellow or dry after fertilizing.
Too much nitrogen can burn grass and lead to long-term damage. An appropriate balance of nutrients is key to achieving and maintaining a healthy lawn.
Does Epsom Salt Make Grass Greener?
You may have seen commercials featuring Epsom salts (Magnesium sulfate) as a home remedy for greener grass. Epsom salt, like nitrogen, is an important component of chlorophyll and can be a cost-effective way to achieve a green lawn.
However, springtime is the best season to use Epsom salts for green, lush growth. To do this, add two tablespoons to four liters of water to be used on the lawn. If you have a sprinkler, lightly sprinkle the solution on the grass. Then, allow the sprinkler to water into the sod.
Get Help From the Pros
Keep in mind that not every lawn’s paleness is a result of nutrient deficiency. Simple factors like lack of watering or too much irrigation can dull your lawn.
Ultimately, understanding your grass’s needs and the type of grass on your lawn is a lasting routine to keep your lawn green and thick. To avoid doing hit-and-miss, hiring a lawn care professional for the job is best.
ABC Can Keep Your Lawn Healthy and Green
Taking care of your grass can take a lot of work. If you would rather spend your weekend enjoying your yard, contact ABC Home & Commercial Services. Our lawn care team can give you that healthy green grass you’ve been looking for. We even have a team who can refresh your landscaping! They can even help you with other lawn care, like using compost as soil.
