The Ultimate Lawn Care Guide for Beginners

You have finally done it – you are a first-time homeowner! And we all know that every homeowner’s pride comes from his or her front lawn.

“Why is it so important to tend to my lawn?” you may wonder.

Well, for one thing, your front yard is the very first thing that people will see. It doesn’t hurt to make an excellent first impression, right?

But if you’re new to being in charge of your own lawn care, then maintaining and taking care of your landscape can be intimidating. The easiest and possibly the best route to go down is to opt for lawn care services near the Canton, Ohio, area. But then again, maybe that’s not your style. And, if that’s the case, we’re definitely here to help.

Let’s take a look at some of the ultimate lawn care tips that you need to know to keep your lawn lush and green!

Getting to know your soil

When talking about the lawn, what happens above ground is a reflection of what’s happening underneath. You can take a bit of advice from lawn care professionals and test your soil’s pH levels. The soil may seem like an obvious aspect when it comes to lawn care, but it definitely makes a huge difference if you want your grass to grow correctly.

To get your soil tested, the easiest option is to contact someone from your local county extension office or hire a landscaping company for the same job. You can also take soil samples yourself with a ready-made test kit.

It’s important that you take care of underlying issues with your soil now so that you won’t spend dozens of hours and lots of money trying to take care of a lawn that just doesn’t seem to stay alive no matter what you do.

Growing your grass

After you test and treat your soil, it’s now time to choose the right grass that would be the best fit for your lawn. It’s essential to choose the right type of grass because each and every type of grass has it’s own requirements when it comes to the soil, temperature, and even the time of year in which you’d plant it.

It’s also important to note that similar to garden flowers or shrubs, grasses also vary in their climate preferences, tolerance for drought, and other conditions. The Kentucky bluegrass is one of type of cold-season grasses, which peak during cool temperatures in fall and spring. On the other hand, warm-season grasses like the Bermudagrass thrive during the summer and in warmer moderate climates.

Treating broadleaf weeds

A good lawn is a magnet for anything that grows, such as broadleaf weeds. This is also another reason why lawn care services are absolutely critical to practically any homeowner. Examples of broadleaf weeds are dandelions, clover, and dollarweed. They spread incredibly quickly and steal the water and nutrients meant for your grass.

In order to get rid of broadleaf weeds, you have to know that timing is very important. The best time to treat actively growing weeds is during a dewy morning. You can use weed killers such as granules of weed-and-feed products or an organic liquid weedkiller spray.

Now you might be asking yourself, “why are dewy mornings important for this?” The moisture on a dewy morning allows for the weedkiller to stick to the unwanted lawn-invader and eventually kill it off.

Feeding your lawn

When it comes to lawn care, sunshine and water can only do so much, and so the rest is up to us. All lawns, if you want them properly taken care of, need a boost every now and then with the help of fertilizers. These fertilizers carry the extra nutrients for your grass and other plants in order to help them grow.

For beginner homeowners, you should only fertilize when needed, and in most cases, that’s about twice every year. Cool-season grasses should be fertilized in the spring while warm-season grasses in the fall or winter. You can also consider composting, which is a more eco-friendly alternative.

How to keep your lawn fresh

It’s pretty much common logic for most of us to water our plants. But when it comes to caring for your lawn, watering the grass is also a must-do. Especially out here in Canton, Ohio – it can get pretty hot in the summer months. And if you leave water out of the equation, lawns get scorched, dry up and simply end up dying on you. Now, watering the law may sound simple enough, but it’s actually one of the more complicated routines in lawn care.

If you water it too little, it will all die out. But then if you water it too much, it’ll lead to the same consequences.

For starters, the rule of thumb is to only water your lawn once or twice a week to avoid flooding it and having it turn into a mud-field. You have to water it deeply and water it very early in the morning to ensure that the moisture goes deep down to the roots. If you water later into the day, the extra sunlight and heat evaporate the water before it reaches the bottom. While watering at night can only lead to oversaturation and growth of fungus.

Give your grass breathing room

Aeration is the best way to give your grass some breathing room. It means you pull out small plugs of soil from your lawn to allow oxygen to seep into the deeper parts of your lawn. This process also allows moisture and other nutrients to reach the roots much easier.

If there is a lot of overgrown thatch or if your soil is hard and compact, then that may be a sign that you desperately need to aerate your lawn. You have to wait until the soil is moist and not wet to start aerating and so this is best done during the spring or fall. You can only aerate once or twice a year, as doing it too often can actually cause more harm than good to your lawn.

Get rid of bald spots

Now that you’re growing out your lawn, you might see a few bald patches here and there. This is a normal experience when it comes to lawn care. No lawn is perfect, and a bald spot is bound to appear from somewhere. However, this is a problem that can be easily taken care of.

If you want to get rid of bald spots, you have to pick the perfect timing to do it. Post-aeration is a good time to treat these patches. The holes from the aeration process also serve as the perfect germination homes for treating your seedlings. Seeding treatment is when you plant new grass seeds to match the grass that you already have. After a period of time, these bald spots will fill in, and you’ll finally have the perfect lush lawn of your dreams.

Closing Thoughts

Yep, lawn care isn’t as easy as many people make it out to be. This is why there are so many lawn care services available to homeowners all across the globe.

If you’re DIY inclined and want to take care of your own lawn – we’ve provided some of the crucial tips for you to keep in mind. However, if you need the help of a professional to get your dying lawn back on track, or help it maintain it’s lush and green state – we’re your best bet! Reach out to our specialists for a consultation on lawn care services in Canton, Ohio.