Your Basic Lawn Care Maintenance Schedule

Your Basic Lawn Care Maintenance Schedule

A recommended basic lawn care maintenance schedule involves three components. These are watering, mowing and fertilizing your lawn. This guide will let you know what schedule you should be keeping to take the best care of your lawn.

The first step in your lawn care maintenance schedule is of course watering. Your watering schedule will vary based on the climate you live in, but a good rule of thumb is that when your grass begins to curl, your lawn needs watering. This stage - curling - means that your lawn is trying to keep its moisture in. Letting your watering schedule go past when your grass starts to curl means that your lawn may turn brown. It's recommended never to allow your grass to dry out, because you will only have to do a lot more watering after the fact. So save your time and the cost of watering by observing your lawn's signals regularly. Generally speaking, you should be watering your lawn on a weekly basis, adding about an inch of water each time. If your lawn is exceptionally healthy and lush, you can get away with not watering it as often, but when you do you should water it for a bit longer.

The next step in your lawn care maintenance schedule is mowing your lawn. This is also dependent on your particular lawn and how fast it grows. You want to be sure you don't mow your lawn too short, but rather keep it a bit higher. Lawns benefit from frequent mowing, because it helps them to thicken and spread out, which will help prevent weeds from taking hold. Frequent lawn mowing also fosters a root system that is deep and healthy. Those two factors allow your grass to access water deep in your soil and keeps disease and bugs from taking hold. Should your lawn become plagued with weeds, increase your lawn mowing schedule to compensate.

The third step in your lawn care maintenance schedule involves applying fertilizer. This too will vary depending on where you live and how soon your cold weather arrives. The optimal time to fertilize your lawn is after the grass has stopped growing and doesn't require mowing, and before the ground is frozen. Around the end of September is generally a good time to add fertilizer that has a higher nitrogen ratio. The nitrogen content will help your lawn grow and be nourished, after the dry, warm summer weather. Then around the end of October or early November, you can add a fertilizer that has a higher phosphorus ratio. The phosphorus will nourish your lawn's roots. Remember to adjust the schedule based on your particular climate. Many people these days are opting for organic fertilizers, which nourishes lawns without being too harsh on the grass. Organic fertilizers are also a great way to protect your grass against pests and to provide improved conditions overall.

Following this basic lawn care maintenance schedule will keep your lawn healthy all season long.

About the Author:
Blake Bahrns is a lawn mower parts and small engine parts expert with over 20 years of experience working on lawn and garden equipment. For additional lawn mower tips, lawn care tips, and more free lawn mower articles visit http://www.lawneq.com/.