Monday, May 25, 2009

Have a More Luxurious Lawn and Garden by Summer

By Riche Goldmann

Is your grass dry under your feet in the summer? Is it full of annoying weeds like mushrooms and dandelion or worse, prickly grass? Do you have dry patches of grass and long for the day when your grass will look more like your neighbor's yard? Ever wanted to know how they are able to maintain such fresh looking lawns and gardens? Well, it is not impossible! You can also experience and lawn and garden that is to die for.

Getting your lawn and garden in tip top condition will give you a feeling for pride and joy in your home, but did you know that it will also increase the market value of your home by 10 to 20%? Now that's a great reason to garden! The following are a few easy steps to getting started. Getting your lawn from dirt to plush grass is an ongoing process, but is well worth the time and effort.

Before you get started with any outdoor projects, it is absolutely necessary to find a good source for all the products and equipment that you are going to need. You can go to TractorSupply.com to find laundry lists of seeds, fertilizers, and products that will help you in the process. You will however, need an aerator, spreader and weed puller to begin with your project, in addition to grass seeds, and fertilizer made especially for your growing area. Online shopping is the perfect place to comparison shop for a variety of products, including a good lawn mower.

The following are a few things to remember when getting your garden ready for the season:

For a stronger and healthier lawn, set your mower to the highest setting. Taller grass is healthier grass, and will keep weeds from growing by shading them from sunlight. It also encourages roots that go deeper and soil that is cooler, creating drought resistance for your grass. A mulching mower will also work to keep your grass in tip top condition. It may be appealing to cut your grass as short as possible to avoid short periods between cuttings, but in the long run you end up creating more work for yourself and uglier grass.

An important item to remember when watering your lawn is to make sure that you water DEEP and INFREQUENTLY. Get a good quality sprinkler system that can reach or entire lawn without creating too much spill over. Otherwise, water just one section at a time. Your lawn does not require that you water it every day either. Instead, try watering your yard for a long period of time and then not again for several days. This will help your lawn's resistance to drought and will creating deeper growing roots.

If you are going to use fertilizers, make sure that you fertilize during the fall season. If you fertilize too often, you end up promoting rapid growth. This may sound like a great thing, but it actually makes the grass more likely to be attacked by disease and insects. Along with that, do not use lots of pesticides on your lawn. These will likely kill good things that keep the soil aerated. When growing a healthy lawn, you ultimately will not need any pesticides.

So why is the fall the best time to fertilize? Grass lies dormant, or asleep, during the fall which means that the roots will be the ones taking advantage of the fertilizer, helping you to have better looking and feeling grass.

Tractor Supply will get you started in the right direction toward a more beautiful lawn and garden. So do not let another summer pass you by with hard crunchy grass. Get in that yard and make it beautiful!

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