“Apologize to lawn” probably isn’t on your long list of things to do. But you might owe it a “sorry.”
You could be accidentally killing your grass — or at least damaging it.
Good intentions like plenty of fertilizing, watering, and mowing can sometimes be too much, actually ruining your lawn.
How are you accidentally damaging your lawn? Here’s a look.
1. Mowing Too Short
You have good intentions here. Mow it short, and you can stretch out the time between mowings. More golf! More hiking! More Netflix!
But cutting your grass too short stresses the grass, and makes it more susceptible to damage from insects and disease. Never cut off more than a third of the grass blade at any one time to avoid ruining your lawn.
That way, the grass will develop a deeper root system to support the longer blades. That leads to a fuller, greener lawn.
2. Not Fertilizing Enough
You know how you get when you skip breakfast, then a meeting runs long so you don’t have time for lunch? Then dinner’s late?
That’s how your lawn feels when it doesn’t get all the nutrients it need. It gets weak.
How often does your lawn need to eat? Here’s a handy feeding schedule for Idaho lawn care:
- Mid-to late-April, once the soil temperature reaches 55 degrees.
- Three times during the summer growing season: mid-May, around the end of June, and in early to mid-August.
- Fall. This final fertilizer treatment in fall includes important slow-release granular fertilizer that feeds your hungry lawn for the winter and helps it pop back up, ready to impress, in the spring.
Also, get your soil pH tested. Important nutrients for grass are available in soil when the pH is balanced. If your pH is off, your grass won’t get the nutrients it needs, no matter how much you fertilize.
3. Ruining Your Lawn with Too Much Fertilizer
That’s right, there’s such a thing as too much fertilizer. It’s actually a common Idaho lawn care mistake — and an easy way to accidentally kill your grass.
Over fertilizing, especially with high levels of nitrogen, will cause lots of pretty green blades of grass, but not enough root growth. Too much fertilizer will actually burn the lawn.
Applying too much fertilizer isn’t just bad for your lawn and wasteful — it can harm the environment, running off and entering the groundwater.
4. Watering Too Much
This is another common way to accidentally damage your lawn, especially in summer, when it’s sunny and hot and you’re tempted to give the poor thing extra drinks.
Be strong — and strategic about watering, so your grass gets the water it needs, but not too much. When you water too often, it encourages shallow, needy roots — actually weakening your lawn.
Water less often but deeply, and roots will grow deeper and healthier.
5. Letting Thatch Build Up
You wouldn’t intentionally suffocate your lawn, but you might be accidentally damaging your lawn with a buildup of thatch.
This can happen when you wait too long to mow the lawn (we’re not judging) and you don’t bag the clippings.
The long clippings settle into the lawn and turn brown, then that thatch blocks sunlight from reaching the lower portion of the grass blades, causing them to die, ruining your lawn.
The solution? Lawn aeration, which helps break down thatch by using a machine to pull out plugs of soil, creating spaces so that air and water can penetrate, which leads to healthier roots.
6. Dull Mower Blades
You can accidentally damage your lawn by using a dull mower blade. A dull blade shreds the grass instead of cutting it cleanly. This causes the tips of the grass to die and turn brown. The jagged edges also invite pests and disease.
A sharp blade makes a nice, clean cut, which helps the grass to heal faster.
Is Your Idaho Lawn Ready for a New Best Friend?
You have the best intentions for your grassy green friend, but mistakes happen. Idaho lawn care involves a lot, right?
Why not leave it to us?
Choose an Idaho Falls or Boise professional lawn care service that bundles your yard’s most-needed treatments into one convenient, no-fuss, six-visit plan that includes everything your lawn needs to grow healthy and green, including weed control and grub control that’s perfectly timed throughout the year.
No accidents.
Fertilizing, weed control, grub control. Done.
Got a few minutes? That’s all you need to get started.
Fill out the form on this page.
Call us at (208) 656-9131.
Or read more about our services.
Then kick back and relax in your healthy, thriving yard.
Image Source: Sprinkler Head
