Lawn Maintenance: Simple Steps to a Lush, Green Lawn

What Happened to Our Beautiful Green Lawn?

It’s a common tale in the world of lawn maintenance. You invest significant time and care into developing a lush, green lawn—but over time, you start to notice some unexplained changes. The lawn starts thinning in spots. The color is inconsistent, and maybe you’ve even got some brown areas despite giving it plenty of water. What’s gone wrong—and more importantly, what can y

o

u

d

o

a

b

o

u

t

i

t

?

Fortunately, lots can be done to get the green back into your lawn—starting with a comprehensive turf evaluation. You’ll want to meet with a garden management profes

s

i

o

n

a

l

w

h

o

w

i

l

l

• assess soil composition for  adequate nutrients and proper drainage
• inspect turf for signs of disease or insect activity
• check that the irrigation system is working correctly
• identify trees or shrubs that throw too much shade on lawn areas
• make note of areas where roots of trees or shrubs are taking moisture from the lawn

Whatever is causing t

h

e

p

r

o

b

l

e

m

,

a

garden management specialist will be able to identify it during the evaluation and offer some remedies. Let’s explore some solutions to common issues that can come between you and that green lawn you want to see.

Lawn Maintenance: Building Blocks for a Healthy, Green Lawn

The formula for building and maintaining a healthy, green lawn is simple, but not so easy to manage. To thrive, a lawn needs a balanced combination of three key

i

n

g

r

e

d

i

e

n

t

s

:

sunlight, water, and nutrients.

If you manage those three well, you can grow healthy grass in the desert (anyone seen those gorgeous golf courses in Arizona?). So, if your lawn isn’t doing well, chances are it’s a deficiency in one or more of those three areas. Let’s take a look at each building block in the health

y

l

a

w

n

f

o

r

m

u

l

a

.

1 Nutrients – Building Healthy Soil

The soil itself may be creating less-than-optimal conditions for your lawn to thrive. Your lawn maintenance specialist can improve soil health in a number of w

a

y

s

,

i

n

c

l

u

d

i

n

g

:

• Adding nutrients. Spreading a top dressing of compost or biochar is a great way to enhance our Virginia clay soil. Additionally, aerating (punching holes in the soil) allows the compost to get into the root zone right where it is needed.
• Balancing pH levels. A soil test will show whether the soil is acidic, alkaline, or neutral. Acidic soil starves the grass because it interferes with the plants’ ability to absorb and use nutrients. Adding lime brings the pH to neutral, which is key to developing a lush green lawn.
• Proper fertilization. To promote vigorous growth, a lawn typically needs three separate applications per season of one pound of nitrogen blend fertilizer per 1000 square feet. Lawn grass likes a lot of nitrogen, and the lawn will use everything you put down, as long as you don’t over do it.

2 Water – Too Much or Too Little Can Cause Problems

Poor irrigation management can create issues with an otherwise healthy lawn by giving it too little or too much water. Or water may not be getting deep enough into the soil because the timing of the system is

n

o

t

o

p

t

i

m

i

z

e

d

.

The best solution for irrigation issues is to have your lawn maintenance company make adjustments to the system as needed. These adjustmen

t

s

m

a

y

i

n

c

l

u

d

e

:

• Coverage. Sprinkler heads may need to be recalibrated to ensure each area of the lawn gets optimal moisture.
• Duration and frequency. Less frequent but longer watering cycles are better because that gets moisture deep into the soil where it is needed to stimulate root growth and density. Frequent, short watering cycles provide shallow watering, which leads to moisture loss via evaporation or transpiration. Ideally, you want the roots reaching down for water, not going up toward the surface.
• Ongoing monitoring and adjustments. Water requirements will vary throughout the growing season as temperatures and humidity fluctuate.

3 Sunlight – Root Systems and Dense Shade

In Northern Virginia, where the soil has a lot of clay, many trees run their roots horizontally close to the surface, where they compete with grass for moisture and nutrients. Root competition, combined with the shade of the tree canopy, makes the lawn a loser in that battle. The best thing to do in that case is to cut out a large bed around the drip line (the edge of the tree canopy above) and plant ferns, mondo grass, or pachysandra

u

n

d

e

r

t

h

e

t

r

e

e

.

You could also consult with an arborist to consider thinning limbs from trees that are over-shading the lawn. If you have a heavy shade type of tree with a dense canopy, you might consider moving it before it grows too big to move. If a tree is considered to be a “junk” tree (e.g. Bradford Pear) and not worth keeping, you may choose to remove it to be

n

e

f

i

t

t

h

e

l

a

w

n

.

Dealing with a Weed Invasion

What’s the first thing people typically notice with a lawn that’s in decline? Weeds. Weeds everywhere. [elementor-templat

e

i

d

=

“

1

2

4

7

6

“

]

Weeds are a sign of stress in the lawn. When turf grass is weakened by deficiencies in the lawn maintenance building blocks described above (water, nutrients, or sunlight), healthy growth, particularly root development, will be stunted. In that weakened state your lawn will become vulne

r

a

b

l

e

t

o

w

e

e

d

s

.

A

healthy lawn with a thick root system doesn’t leave much room for weeds to get a start–but when they do, weeds move quickly. They grow faster, harder, and thicker than any type of turf grass we have in the mid-Atlantic region. Thus, the key to controlling weeds is to be proactive—to get ahead of the weed growth with a pre-emergent spring treatment that prevents the weed seeds from sprouting before the grass has a chance to emerge from dormancy.

Dealing with Disease and Insects

Insects and disease also thrive on stressed plant material. There are short term remedies to treat the pests, but that approach only deals with the symptom, not the primary cause. The best defense against insects and disease, as with weeds, is a healthy lawn. The healthier and thicker the lawn is, the less opportunity there is for intruders to gain a footho

l

d

i

n

t

h

e

t

u

r

f

.

Sometimes environmental factors beyond anyone’s control can threaten an otherwise healthy lawn. For example, after weeks of rain and high humidity, you might see fungus growth because the lawn is saturated and never gets a chance to dry out. You can’t do anything about the rain, but when it stops, your lawn maintenance professional can spot treat affected areas so fungus doesn’t kill your lawn while it’s try

i

n

g

t

o

d

r

y

o

u

t

.

Ultimately, a healthy, green lawn is the result of ongoing care and preventive maintenance. It’s more than simply getting rid of weeds and bug infestations when they occur. A good lawn maintenance program starts with an analysis of the visible signs of distress in the lawn, identifying the specific problem, then correcting the cause of the problem at its source–so it doesn’

t

h

a

p

p

e

n

a

g

a

i

n

.

For long-term lawn health, there really is no substitute for a rigorous,

c

o

m

p

r

e

h

e

n

s

i

v

e

lawn care service and garden management program to achieve the lush lawn you want.

Perhaps you’ve been wondering how to bring out the fullest expression in your landscape and garden

s

.

O

u

r

e

B

o

o

k

:

Choosing the Right Kind of Landscape Maintenance Firm, is full of valuable information to help you understand the fundamental differences between landscape maintenance companies.