









When it comes to green lawn and lawn care, there are a few things that just cannot be
overlooked, or they could snowball into larger issues later on. Actually, lawn care is not
all that difficult. Your prime focus should be on whether the lawn needs to be weeded, or
whether some shrubs need added attention. Weeds can wreak havoc in the lawn if they
are not removed in time. What you absolutely need to do is to spend a little time with
your lawn for its weeding and general beautification.
You can protect your lawn from any unwanted growth in various ways. The three essential
things to do are watering, weeding and moving. These techniques all help in the
elimination of weeds, and they do not take as much time as you think they would. A trick
is to deal with small portions of your lawn at a time. It might be quite laborious to deal
with the whole lawn at once, and that may not give you a very good result too.
A cheap option to remove the weeds infiltrating your lawn is to use a clover. Clovers
aren't highly recommended, but they are still quite popular because they are inexpensive.
This is a 'green' option to remove weeds and can suit your purpose quite well. You do
not need to carry out any difficult techniques such as fertilization and they do not grow to
a height of over 4 to 5 inches. Clovers can tolerate dog urine and mowing activities
commendably well, but there are some disadvantages too. They could attract
honeybees, stain your clothes and they cannot withstand much of being trod upon.
You could also place an artificial footing that looks like a course and gives you the
serenity of a real lawn. When you are not ready to replace a large portion of your lawn,
then you could cover some of the portions. An idea here is to treat your ground with
covers. You can get some ideal alternatives that are available in the market, and you
could easily harness them to get a great result. Some options that you can safely think
about include miniature wormwood, Corsican sandwort, pussytoes and such others.
Apart from such treatment, you can accessorize your garden with ornamental grasses,
mosses that are considered ideal for damp, water structures, steeping pebbles and
some decoration shrubs. All these can make your lawn perfect and you will be proud of
your artistic nature at the end of the day. An eco-friendly attitude with the lawn can
actually bolster your health and also make your more creatively satisfied about your
green thumb.
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Lawn Articles;
GREEN LAWN

Green Lawns
The single biggest reason a lawn isn't green in the summer is that people don't know how
to water. Put fertilizer on a lawn that is not properly watered and you risk damaging the
lawn. Water the lawn every 2-3 days to a depth of 1 inch. Put a can or glass on it when
watering to see how long it takes for 1 inch the first time. It's best to water deeply several
times/week rather than water everyday. Everyday light watering will keep the grass roots
near the top of the soil and they'll go dormant or die in the summer. Water heavily and the
roots will go deeper into the ground. Light watering also encourages weeds. In about 2
weeks your lawn should become greener. If it doesn't fertilize it and then continue
watering heavily every other day or so.
You can also use Epson Salt according to the directions on the package. You can buy it
at any pharmacy or some garden stores.
Also, you might consider an iron supplement. It doesn't actually "feed" the grass like
fertilizer. Also, it doesn't green the plants as long as nitrogen, which is the greening agent
in fertilizer, and must be reapplied more often. Happily, iron doesn't make the grass grow
faster and thus mowing chores are not aggravated. Also, I don't think you can damage
the plants like you can if you put too much on like you can do with fertilizer. Most people
just use fertilizer, because it has other effects, such as a thicker lawn.
Regarding Lawn Care, there has been some concern regarding fertilizers and other
chemicals used on lawns, such as phosphate runoff and runoff of herbicides and
insecticides. I don't think this issue exists with iron supplements.
Nitrogen is what makes your lawn green. Nitrogen also makes it grow extremely
fast, so be prepared to mow a lot more often. I used all kinds of fertilizers over
the years and kept looking at my neighbor's, which had the greenist lawn. I
realized they were using Scott's. I started, and now mine stays green all year.
If you want a Greener Grass, then fertilizer is the key! Especially nitrogen - see below.
There is such a broad range of prices when you look at the fertilizer options.
What exactly did you buy, and what is its best use?
You want a good dollar value. You also want the product that will produce the best
results. Understand the significance of fertilizer numbers, or N-P-K ratios, and you
can have both.
A bag of fertilizer on the garden department shelf is a marketing masterpiece. Each
brand promises to be the perfect match for your lawn.
Contrast that with a bag that the professionals buy. Plain and simple. It gives a
formula (the fertilizer numbers) and a list of ingredients. Is that enough to make a
decision? Yes… if you know what you’re looking for.
What is N-P-K, And Their Role In Fertilizer?
All fertilizers use a three number rating system, like 15-15-15, or 21-7-14. The first
number represents Nitrogen, the second is Phosphorous, the third is Potassium (or
Potash). These numbers are percentages of the total ingredients in the bag. (In case
you forget the order, the words are alphabetical!)
Want to sound like a pro? The chemical notations of these elements are N-P-K, a
very official designation for fertilizer numbers. Use this term when you shop and
impress someone!
Triple 15 (15-15-15) has equal amounts of each of these nutrients, or 15% of each.
(Triple 16 is almost identical.)
This is how fertilizer ratios work. As an example, use fertilizer numbers with an NPK
rating of 21-7-14. Nitrogen has the highest concentration. It is 3 times the amount of
phosphorous. Phosphorous is only half of the Potassium amount. Technically, this
would be called a 3-1-2 ratio.
A math teacher might try to give you a real life algebra lesson at this point, but let’s
not go there. Instead, use this simple trick that will help you identify the proper blend
each time you need to buy lawn fertilizer.
Look at any set of fertilizer ratios on a label. Notice how the numbers relate to each
other by size:
21-7-14 is Big - Small - Medium
21-3-3 is Big - Small - Small
6-20-20 is Small - Big - Big
21-0-0 is Big - Zero - Zero
The N-P-K rating you want for grass typically is
Big - Small - Small. If you follow this, you see that grass needs a lot of Nitrogen and
a little bit of the other stuff. That’s the essential part. If you’re willing to learn about
what these nutrients do, you can vary your selection based on your specific lawn
situation.
Why Do The Fertilizer Numbers Matter?
A brief description of each major nutrient will show why grass has its own preference
for fertilizer.
Nitrogen:
The keystone element for a green lawn!
essential for growth of foliage;
produces lush, tender, green leaves (or grass blades);
deficiency results in a yellow-green color (chlorosis) and little or no growth;
is easily flushed through the soil.
Phosphorous:
stimulates root growth;
hastens the maturity of plants;
promotes development of flowers, fruits, seeds;
deficiency can result in slow or stunted growth and purplish discoloration on leaves;
remains in the soil quite well.
Potassium:
gives vigor to tolerate changing weather conditions;
helps resist disease;
assists in the food manufacturing process;
strengthens cell wall structure for strong stems;
deficiency can cause week stems and slow growth;
leaches from the soil, not so fast as nitrogen.
How Can This Save You Money?
Look at the current status of your lawn.
For a greener grass, an established lawn needs primarily nitrogen, since it is not producing any fruit or flowers = Big - Small - Small. Nitrogen is the least expensive of the nutrients. Don’t buy a formula that has high phosphorous or potassium when you don’t need them.
A new lawn needs more phosphorous to produce roots. Don’t use high nitrogen because the roots are not ready to handle top growth. So use Small - Big - Big. Phosphorous and potassium are more costly, so you would not use this all the time.
Investing in the more expensive list of ingredients for a new or damaged lawn is wise. Be safe when you fertilize new sod! You’ll save the expense of doing it over if you kill the young lawn with the wrong blend. Avoid stress and later expensive problems by helping the grass mature properly.
A stressed lawn (preparing for winter or extreme heat) needs more potassium. (Big - Small - Medium) or (Big - Small - Big) When the grass has stressful conditions to deal with, applying the more expensive potassium can prevent problems from developing or continuing. Pay now and don’t pay later.
If the fertilizer with higher numbers in the ratio is on sale, you can apply it, knowing you got a good deal. Be cautious though, about applying high phosphorous continually to a lawn area. Mature grass doesn’t need it, and the environment doesn’t either.
(Side-note: Some states restrict or eliminate the application of phosphorous on lawns, to decrease pollution from run-off. A new lawn may be exempt from restriction. Check with your local agencies.)
Is The Fertilizer Number Ratio All That Matters?
The nutrient ratio is easy to look at. It can help you decide quickly to consider or eliminate certain fertilizer blends. It is not the only factor deserving of your attention. Consider learning about the ingredient source that provides the NPK.
The way the fertilizer pellets are made can also affect the value and life-span of the nutrients. Sound too technical? This simple overview could save you time and trouble by applying the food less frequently. Follow the link to get the details:
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Interesting note;
Corn is a grass type that was cultivated by the Native Americans; Originally with a "corn stalk" no bigger than a grain of rice, it was selectively bread over hundreds of years to what we know today as corn.
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Maintaining a Green Lawn Requires proper
mowing!
Common mistakes I see people frequently making is
improper mowing. Improper mowing damages the
health and the look of the green lawn.
Tragically I see most landscapers have a tendency to
mow the grass too short. I see them mowing fescue
grass down to a hight of 1 inch or less. This is extremely
stressful on the grass as a living organism. Such a short
cutting shocks the grass as well as temporarily removes
its ability to handle drought conditions. Furthermore,
such a short cutting thins the grass out so much that it
looses its greenness.
Fescue grasses should be trimmed to no less than 2
inches to provide optimum health for the grass. As the
grass blades reach 4 inches, then its time to trim again.
This will provide a much healthier lawn, that is drought
resistant and maintain its deep green or bluish color.
Bermuda, Zoysia, Centipede and St. Augustin are
creeping or vining grasses and should be trimmed every
week. In some cases with heavy rains, they should be
trimmed twice per week. These grasses should be
trimmed very regularly regardless if they have grown
much during the last week. The base line hight should
never go below an inch and a half for these grasses.
Please view our other pages
Maintaining a Green Lawn Requires proper
watering!
Watering the lawn properly is sometime difficult to
manage, especially with our changing weather patterns
that oscillate between heavy droughts and heavy rains.
With a deluge of rain, the only thing we can do is simply
wait for the rains to subside, and then let the lawn
throughly dry out. Its important to let the lawn
completely dry out on top between waterings as this
reduces the chances mold and other bacteria will take
hold and cause harm.
As a rule of thumb, it is better to water deeply and less
often than frequent light waterings. Light watering do
not encourage the roots to grow deeply. For a healthy
green lawn, we want deeper growing roots.
It is recommended that during dry periods, the lawn
receives a deep thorough watering every four days. This
allows the lawn time to dry out on the surface before the
next watering takes place. A deep watering will provide
enough water under the surface that will evaporate
upwards and provide the root system with adequate
water reserves.
Maintaining a Green Lawn Requires proper
Fertilization!
Please read the article to the left of this column for
understanding how to purchase the proper fertilizer.
You will also find another fertilizer article at the top right
of this page.
Fertilization is key to having a green lawn as it provides
the direct nutrients that causes the internal cells to be
vibrant bright green.
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