Maintaining a healthy Gainesville lawn is a necessary component of your home’s curb appeal. Everyone wants to have the best-looking yard. You simply need to know how to make this happen. In fact, having healthy grass is more than laying new seed or watering it. It’s an ongoing process that includes rethinking how you’ve always mowed your yard. Let’s review three lawn service must-dos that are essential to giving you the best-looking and most vibrant yard on the block.
Start by mowing high
Depending on the size of your yard, it can take a few hours to mow the grass. While zero turn mowers help reduce this time considerably, homeowners are busy people. They often look for ways to minimize time while maximizing return. One way they’ll do this with their yard is by cutting their yards as close to the ground as possible.
Unfortunately, this is detrimental to having a healthy Gainesville lawn. There are several reasons to mow the grass higher, and they’re all about improving the health of your lawn.
Roots
When grass blades are taller, it encourages them to grow deeper roots. Deeper roots serve several purposes. It makes the grass itself more tolerant to drought or drier conditions. It also encourages the grass to push harder to get more water from underground sources. That, in turn, forces the grass to pull nutrients from the soil. Plus, with deeper roots, the grass blades themself are more resilient and resistant to pests and diseases.
Light
We need the sun to survive. Plantlife is no different. However, as we know from having had a sunburn at some point in our life, too much sun can be a bad thing.
The same is true for your grass blades. A healthy Gainesville lawn is one that reduces the amount of light that gets to the dirt. Taller grass blades serve this purpose, keeping the soil healthier. This will then encourage seed germination and thickens the grass itself. Plus, think of it as a symbiotic relationship. The grass keeps the soil protected, and in turn, the soil provides the grass with what it needs to stand tall and healthy.
Water
Think of each blade of grass as a sponge. A larger sponge holds more water than a smaller one. Likewise, when there is more leaf on each blade of grass, they hold water better. And, the more water a blade of grass contains, the better it can withstand foot traffic. So, when your kids are outside playing soccer or football, they’re not killing the grass due to foot traffic. Also, the more water a blade of grass holds, the more green and lush your healthy Gainesville lawn will be.
Then, start mowing more often
Naturally, if you’re mowing the grass taller, you’re also going to mow more often. And, even if you keep the mower deck at the same height as before, we still want to encourage you to mow more often.
Weeds
More frequent mowing has several benefits, not the least of which is weed control. The more often you mow, the more often you’ll cut weed flowers before they turn into seeds. This reduces weed germination and cuts down on overall weed penetration throughout your yard.
Grass clumps
Also, if you mow more often, there will be fewer clumps of grass on the lawn after each mowing. Clumps of grass both kill and stress the grass blades beneath them.
System shock
Another benefit of mowing more often is that you’re not “shocking” the plant. Let’s use your fingernails as an analogy. If you trim them back, they’re healthier. However, if you cut your nails down to the quick, your fingertips will be throbbing for a day or two. The same idea applies to your grass. By cutting just ⅓ of the leaf off at a time, you’re trimming while not shocking the grass blades’ system too much.
Organic materials
When you only cut the tip, the blades can biodegrade faster. This reduces thatch buildup, bugs, and disease. Plus, with less thatch, the rainwater runs off rather than pooling on the ground.
Finally, keep your mower deck blades sharp
Sharp mower blades can also help with having a healthy Gainesville lawn. When your blades are sharp, they will cut the grass as opposed to tearing it. If you tear the blade, it causes them to turn brown over time due to the damage. It’s the scalpel vs sword approach: a fine cut versus a hard swipe.
Torn grass is also more susceptible to diseases. Subsequently, it will take more energy to repair them, and make them more likely to fall prey to invading bugs.
The team at Sun Power Lawn Care actually sharpens our blades daily. While that isn’t necessary for the average homeowner, we do encourage you to have two sets of blades. First, sharpen your blades at the end of the season and midway through the summer. This keeps them in peak-cutting shape. Second, with a second set of blades, you can literally switch to the other pair of already sharpened blades while you (or a blade sharpening firm) are maintaining your first pair.
The go-to team for a healthy Gainesville lawn
These three tips — mowing higher, mowing more frequently, and mowing with sharp blades — will help create the perfect, healthy Gainesville lawn. However, they’re also just one part of the process. Among other things to consider is removing thatch buildup, watering during cooler hours of the day, reseeding as necessary, and even switching to an electric mower.
And as we mentioned earlier, we also fully understand that you’re a busy person. Some of these tips take time. Even if you utterly love mowing the lawn, the time and dedication it can take to have a healthy Gainesville lawn can be a relatively involved process.
That’s where we come in. Sun Power Lawn Care is the premier lawn service in Gainesville. Our staff is trained by Green Industries Management, and we do all of these tips and more for each of our lawn service customers.
Would you like to learn more about how we can help make your life easier with our lawn care packages? If so, contact us today for a free, no-obligation quote!
Here are some great resources to help your lawn look its best:
Lawn care for the busy professional – Automate the lush lawn
