The Inside Outside Guys ~ Summer Lawn Care Without Breaking the Bank

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Grass is functional. It serves as a playground for the neighborhood kids that inspires a multitude of various games played right in your backyard.

Grass is resilient. It can withstand a lot of traffic and a little bit of drought and still thrive and grow. Properly cared for, it will often edge out other plants that we find less desirable.

Grass needs to be maintained, but not as aggressively as we have been led to believe.

In keeping with our promise to provide monthly home maintenance tips, the Guys want you to examine your lawn care.

Let’s examine the controversial issue of watering. Our culture has led us to believe that grass needs daily soaking, but that just is not true. To a degree, the harder a plant has to work to find sustenance, the deeper and broader it will send roots and the healthier it will be.

There are also growing issues regarding both the cost and the potential scarcity of water.

Experts tell us to furnish about an inch of water a week to lawns. The idea is to water just before dawn, so the fluid has a chance to soak into the soil. You would like moisture penetration of about 3 inches into the soil.

And what about the length of the grass? Yes, that golf course you play every week has the grass cut down to less than an inch, and it is lush and green, but is your lawn going to serve a hundred golfers a day?

In a recent dry spell, it was shared with the Guys that a local course was placing 2 million gallons of water every night to maintain that standard.

Experts tell us your lawn can thrive at a 3-inch grass length. Remember the root system needs a green stalk above to gather sunlight and provide nourishment.

Make certain the mower blades are very sharp and that you do a pre-mow walk around the yard to assure no rocks, pine cones or other projectiles are in the grass to dull blades and create a safety hazard.

Sharp blades are important for a few reasons. Dull blades will tear the top of the grass leaving a ragged edge. You can view this within a day or so of cutting.

This edge can not only brown the grass but can create opportunity for pests and fungal growth. It also requires additional energy for the grass to heal rather than grow and thicken.

Sharp blades will extend mower life and increase machine efficiency.

What is the best time of day to cut grass? Most experts agree that cutting in the heat of the afternoon is not best, but whether to cut in the morning after the dew has dried or cut in the early evening after the heat of the day has passed is a matter of debate among the professionals.

One thing they all seem to agree on is that frequent, short, cutting is best for the grass to flourish.

This practice will also provide some thatch to the lawn, which can help limit weed growth and keep moisture in soils.

Too much thatch can actually be an issue. Experts tell us that three-quarters of an inch or more is detrimental and should be removed with either a stiff tined broom rake or a de-thatching device you can rent and pull behind a riding mower.

Compacted soil can also be an issue. Typically, an early spring or late fall chore using a rented machine that cuts plugs of root and soil from the lawn, this can stimulate root growth in the grass.

These plugs will dissolve with snow or rain and the soil will settle back into the lawn.

With just a little care, you can enjoy the many benefits of a great lawn which also include improved curb appeal to reward your visual senses.

And you can either do it yourself or take advantage of the great professionals you can find at InsideOutsideGuys.com.

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For housing advice and more, listen to “The Inside Outside Guys” every Saturday and Sunday on 760 WJR from 10 a.m. to noon, or contact them at InsideOutsideGuys.com.