We’d all love to have a nice, healthy lawn. We read articles and look for tips about how to keep lawns healthy. But what about the things that could ruin a lawn?
None of us want to ruin our lawn or kill the grass, but sometimes we make mistakes. We might overwater because we’ve heard watering is good for the lawn. Or we might leave pet waste out there because we didn’t realize it can kill the grass. If working with an overgrown lawn, we might think it’d be good to take the grass down in one cutting only to stress the grass plants.
A couple of mistakes like this won’t necessarily “ruin” your lawn. But taken together, the things you don’t know about what might hurt your lawn can add up to some pretty significant damage. You can help prevent that by paying attention to these 10 ways to avoid accidentally ruining your lawn.
1) Don’t Water Too Much or Too Little
Watering too much or too little can cause a few different issues for your lawn. Overwatering can leave the lawn waterlogged and at risk for fungus and other issues. Watering too little stresses the grass and can make it go dormant (which is okay during summers when water use is restricted). If you can water your lawn, water deeply once a week. Lawns need about 1 inch of water per week. If it rains, make sure you adjust your watering to account for that.
2) Don’t Cut the Grass Too Short
We’ve all been there; sometimes there just isn’t enough time to mow the lawn each week. But if the grass gets a little overgrown, cutting it back as short as possible isn’t the answer. In fact, cutting grass too short can stress or kill the plants. It also makes the lawn more vulnerable to weeds and drought. A good guide is to only cut 1/3 of the overall grass height each time you mow. You’ll also want to follow mow height suggestions for the type of grass in your lawn.
3) Don’t Over Fertilize
Applying too much fertilizer can cause chemical burns on the lawn. Even if it doesn’t burn the grass, it can pollute surrounding water sources if the extra nutrients wash out of the lawn. Make sure you apply fertilizer according to package directions and spread applications out during the growing season. You can also fertilize the lawn with compost to help improve the soil and reduce the risk of overfertilizing.
4) Don’t Forget the Soil
Often, we focus on the grass when talking about lawn care and forget about the soil that’s underneath it. Getting soil testing done (such as through the Soil, Water and Forage Testing Laboratory at Texas A&M University) can provide important guidelines for how to fertilize. In addition, applying compost once a year will help improve soil texture and supply nutrients to the grass.
5) Don’t Leave Stuff on the Lawn
You probably don’t think about what leaving the kiddie pool out all summer will do to the lawn until you pick it up in the fall and see all the dying, yellow grass underneath. If you want to avoid compacted soil and grass killed by lack of light, make sure you’re picking up toys, party trash, lawn chairs, fallen branches, and other stuff on the lawn.
6) Don’t Water at the Wrong Time
Watering in the afternoon means that you’re losing a lot of water to evaporation during the heat of the day. Watering in the evening solves that problem, but having the lawn stay wet overnight can result in fungus on the lawn or other diseases. The best time to water is in the early morning. That way, the lawn will have time to dry before dark, but the cooler weather will help limit water lost to evaporation.
7) Don’t Cut with Dull Blades
Make sure you sharpen mower blades regularly. Cutting with dull blades means you’re tearing the grass instead of giving it a nice, neat trim. Torn grass blades don’t look as nice and they’re more vulnerable to disease.
8) Don’t Bag Your Clippings
Generally, it’s healthier for a lawn if you leave the grass clippings. As grass clippings break down, they put water and nutrients back into the soil. Using a mulching mower is ideal. The only time you’ll want to bag clippings is if there’s a lawn disease you’re trying not to spread.
9) Don’t Forget to Aerate
Even if you’re careful not to leave things on the lawn and vary the mowing direction, the soil is still going to get compacted. Compacted soil makes it hard for water and nutrients to get to grass roots, but it’s a relatively easy problem to fix. You just need to aerate once a year. For most Texas lawns (those with warm-season grass), aerate in late spring or early summer.
10) Don’t Ignore Pet Waste
If you have pets, then you’re probably already careful about removing solid waste from the lawn on a fairly regular basis. That’s not something anyone wants to step in while enjoying the yard. But liquid waste can also cause problems for grass. Animal urine can kill grass if the animals go in the same spot all the time. Either let dogs have the run of the yard to spread this out, or provide a mulched area for them to do their business without harming the grass.
Whatever your lawn care needs, you can find equipment at Richardson Saw & Lawnmower to help you take care of your yard. Come visit us when you’re shopping for mowers, trimmers, and other lawn care equipment.
