10 Lawn Hacks from the Professionals

10 lawn hacks from the professionals

Taking care of your yard doesn’t have to be overly challenging. Most people could be lawn care experts with just a little bit of guidance. Today, we thought we’d give you some insider info on how to get the best lawn with minimal effort. Here are 10 lawn hacks from the professionals guaranteed to give you the best-looking yard in town!

Cut your grass high

A common mistake most people make is cutting their grass too short to the ground. By cutting it higher, you’ll help improve your yard’s health. How exactly? A taller blade of grass can deal with droughts and potential diseases way easier. Effectively, you’re reducing the stress on your lawn and helping it to thrive better.

Mow more often, Part 1

Of course, this does mean you’ll need to mow more often, which is actually a good thing anyway. By mowing more frequently, the grass can thicken out, creating a lusher-looking yard. When you only cut a third of the blade off, the natural bacteria in your yard can break down the trimming much easier, which gives you an easy (and free) fertilizer for your yard.

Mow more often, Part 2

cut your grass high and often to keep it healthy

Have you heard of thatch? We touched on it in our last blog. It’s basically a dead layer of leaves, grass, and other organic materials that prevents water, air, and fertilizer from getting to the soil. By mowing more often, you help to cut down on this soggy layer of material, which in turn helps stop your grass from drying out.

Keep blades sharp

There are several benefits to having your mower blades regularly sharpened. For starters, it gives you a clean cut which makes your grass just plain look better. But more importantly, a sharper cut creates less surface area for grass disease to spread, which improves your overall lawn health. As an added benefit, lawns cut with sharp blades also have fewer brown spots, making it a green blanket instead of a green with brown patch blanket.

Change direction of mowing

A simple but often overlooked tip is to regularly change the direction that you mow. If you mow in the same direction time and time again, your yard will start to form divots and ruts, creating an uneven cut and, quite frankly, a less impressive-looking yard.

Watering 101

Here’s a super helpful tip: don’t water your grass every day. You want the roots of each blade to work for it to some extent. By forcing them to search for water, the roots grow deeper as they try to tap into a water source. If you water daily, the roots will not grow down in search of water, which means you’ll have to keep watering more frequently. It’s a vicious cycle!

On the same hand, don’t water during the hottest hours of the day. Water your lawn only in the early morning or late evening. Otherwise, you end up burning the grass or the water evaporates before it can do any good.

Trim hedges and tree branches to help your lawn grass

Trim Tree Branches & Hedges

Your grass needs sun. To maximize how much of the sun your lawn gets, trim low-hanging tree branches. You should also reduce decorative hedging. Your lawn needs light in order to thrive, doing both of these will increase the amount of sun that gets to it.

Perform a soil test

Yes, we all want to have the best-looking yard. However, sometimes it’s not fertilizing you need. Some homeowners automatically assume they need to fertilize their yard to make it look good, but as it turns out, your PH could be out of balance. As an example, pine needles are known to turn the soil PH acidic. A test can help determine if there’s an underlying issue for your yard rather than just assuming you need fertilizer.

Rake leaves

As an extension of that, if your yard has a PH issue, simply raking it more often can help. Dead leaves and other yard clippings act as mulch, preventing your grass from growing effectively (and beautifully). Rake as necessary to prevent this from ever being an issue.

Watch for traffic patterns

No, we don’t mean on the road. Rather, if you have a highly-trafficked area in your yard, the blades are going to get smashed down. When this happens, nutrients can’t penetrate into the root system. There are a few solutions, such as regularly aerating your grass to help water and air penetrate deeper. Alternatively, you could also put in a sidewalk if you have a regular path people take through your yard.

The best lawn hack in our opinion? That’s easy: contact us!

We love helping our customers turn their lawns into masterpieces. When you contact us for your lawn care needs, we’ll be sure to employ all of these tips on a regular basis. 

Ready to get started? Fill out our short contact form and we’ll schedule a free consultation!

 

Here are some great resources to help your lawn looks its best:

How to Prep for Spring Lawn Care

The 12 Best Home Services in Gainesville

2020 Year in Review