Proper Lawn Watering
What you need to know
If buying the right product at a home center was the missing element to a gorgeous green lawn, then more people would have perfectly looking lawns. A picture perfect lush green lawn is simply gorgeous and proper watering, is one essential requirement to maintaining a healthy, attractive lawn. Here is what you need to know about watering your lawn:
When to Water
Watering your lawn early in the day is best. Midday watering is inefficient, as moisture will evaporate quickly at this time. Watering in the evening should be avoided, because it encourages lawn fungus disease, as the grass will remain damp for longer periods of time. Ensuring even distribution of water over the entire lawn is also key.
How Much Water
Lawns in New England require about one-inch of water weekly in the summer to retain their rich green color, and to keep the lawn healthy and actively growing. To determine if your lawn is getting the proper amount of water, RANESCAPE recommends that you place empty cans, such as a coffee can under the water pattern of each sprinkler to determine the amount of time that you will need to run your sprinklers.
Remember that a one-inch requirement includes both rainfall and irrigation. Using a rain gauge could help you determine whether your lawn needs to be irrigated or not. If you receive an inch of rainfall in any given week, you can hold off watering until it is needed.
Avoid Overwatering
Overwatering does more than increase the water bill; it also makes plants prone to pests and increases maintenance. By choosing and operating a watering system correctly, you can reduce water bills, insect and disease problems, and maintenance requirements. For example, the more you water your lawn, the faster it grows and the more it needs to be mowed.
How Often to Water
Deep, thorough watering encourages deeper grass rooting. If possible, provide your lawns’ watering needs in two intervals per week. Longer, less-frequent watering is more beneficial than watering more often for shorter periods.
Lawn sprinkler system installation
Proper Mowing
What you need to know
Lawn mowing, although often overlooked, greatly affects your lawns appearance and general health. The main factors to consider are mowing height, frequency, mulching vs. bagging, and blade sharpness.
Mowing Height
Mowing height is one of the most critical issues in keeping your lawn healthy. Under most circumstances, lawns in our area should be mowed at 2 ½ to 3 inches long. This is usually the highest or next to the highest setting of most residential mowers..
There are lots of reasons why mowing high is healthier for your lawn:
- Tall grass grows more slowly--Grass mowed tall grows more slowly and, therefore, needs less frequent cutting. Because it still has plenty of foliage surface to collect energy from the sun, it isn’t compelled to quickly replace the lost leaf surface.
- Tall grass reduces water needs--Tall grass has the energy to grow blades and roots simultaneously. Deep roots help grass plants handle drought because they have access stored water deep in the soil.
- Tall grass shades the soil, reducing evaporation of its valuable moisture and cooling the crowns of the grass plants.
- Mow grass growing in partly shady areas higher--by about 1/2 inch--than your grass growing in the sun. Because it gets so little light, this grass needs maximum leaf surface to compensate for the light deprivation.
- Mowing too short will lead to a root system that is limited and shallow. Your lawn will be more prone to summer drought and disease stress. Mowing higher usually provides for a deeper root system, a lawn that looks better, requires less water, and is less likely to experience weed invasion.
Mowing Frequency
Lawns should be mowed often enough so no more than one third of the grass leaf is removed at any one cutting. Removing more than one third puts the grass under stress and reduces its vitality. The grass’s capacity to receive enough sun to make energy to grow is seriously reduced by the removal of so much blade surface. When more than 33 % of the grass plant is amputated at one time, the plant stops producing roots. All its energy is devoted to replacing lost foliage. This reduces the grass's vigor and its ability to withstand dry periods. So, frequent mowing and cuts limited to 1/3 of the blades definitely make a difference in the health of your lawn. Cutting more than one-third of the grass blade leads to problems with insects, disease, and weeds.
Also, try to avoid mowing when the grass is wet.
Mulching Versus Bagging
You can safely leave grass clippings that will quickly decompose and add nutrients back into the soil when no more than one third of the grass leaf is removed. Another reason to mulch is that it reduces the amount of time it takes to mow. Grass clippings do not add to thatch buildup. Research has shown that clippings do not contribute to thatch.
Blade Sharpness
Keep your mower's blade sharp, which means having it professionally sharpened at least once a year and touching it yourselves with a file every month or two. RANESCAPE recommends keeping at least two sets of blades around so you'll always have a sharp one on hand.
A dull blade shreds the top of the grass leaf, giving the lawn an off-colored appearance, this is usually more noticeable a day or two later or when the weather is dry. In addition to making your lawn appear brown after mowing, shredding the top of the grass leaf increases the possibility of lawn disease.
Lawn Fertilization
Our lawn fertilization program can help you get that dense, green and lush lawn you want without the work.
Lawn Fertilization
Our Lawn Fertilization Program
The right nutrients, at the right time develops a healthy and attractive lawn. Although our fertilization program is always customized to meet your lawn's specific needs, our lawn fertilization program generally consists of:
- Five timely applications of slow-releasing granular fertilizer, applied at 5-7 week intervals through the season
- Guaranteed preventative grub control application
- Acidic soil-reducing limestone application
- Core aeration which loosens compacted soil, reduces thatch, increases nutrient absorption, and promotes root expansion
- Weed and insect control applied as needed at each visit, including two crabgrass control applications
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The timing of the applications is as follows:
Early Spring - This application is designed to prevent crabgrass and other annual weeds before they germinate. It will also control existing weeds and provide a quick spring green up.
Late Spring - This application extends crabgrass control through the remainder of the season; controls newly emerged summer annual weeds, thickens turf, and maintains color.
Early Summer – This application is generally a two applications in one. We apply a balanced fertilizer and the guaranteed preventive grub control application. We also inspect your lawn thoroughly for surface insects and weeds and treat your lawn if necessary. In addition, we inspect for lawn diseases.
Late Summer - A balanced fertilizer is applied to maintain a healthy lawn and improve color. Weeds and insects are treated as needed. In addition, we inspect for lawn diseases
Early Fall - A heavy fall fertilizer is applied to stimulate deep root growth and recovery for summer stress. All end of season weeds, grassy weeds or diseases are treated as needed.
Lime Application – The timing of this application can be either in the spring or fall. An application of brown pelletized limestone is applied to improve the soils pH.
Aeration – Although technically an aeration can be done at any time during the year. RANESCAPE tries to schedule all aerations for the fall. This allow us to aerate and overseed any bare or thin areas of your lawn.
Some of our advantages worth mentioning:
- We spot treat weeds at each visit
- Two spring applications of pre-emergent crabgrass control
- Courtesy call before each visit
- Free service calls
- Prepayment discounts
- Multi-program discount
- We have an all natural, pesticide free program available
- We do not telemarket
- All technicians are fully licensed and insured in RI and MA.
Money Back Guarantee
If you are not fully satisfied with your lawn service, call us within 30 days of your last service and we will work to ensure your satisfaction. If you are still unsatisfied after following our mowing and watering instructions, we will return the cost of your last application.
lawn renovation, lawn mowing and maintenance