Mowing Season: Keeping your lawn green, healthy, and pretty
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Lawn envy is a very real thing, there's always that one yard in the neighborhood that makes you wonder - "How did they do that?"
Maybe you're not into the whole competitive side of it, but you'd just like your grass to look presentable.
Well, now is the time to take action and that means dos and don'ts.
The lawn mower chorus is in full voice once a week...right?
"We know that, through research, the biggest practice that will improve the quality of your yard or of your lawn, is one additional mowing a week," said Jeff Fowler, of Turfgrass Management and Penn State's grass expert.
Fowler said one big thing is to make sure your mower's blade is freshly sharpened - if you cut with a sharp blade, the grass will heal much better.
Also, make sure your lawn mower is level by checking the wheel height.
"Put it on a flat surface, whether it's a garage floor or a sidewalk," Fowler said.
That said, just how high should you set it?
"I am a proponent of home lawns as high as you can get away with, so I'd like the 2-3 inch range," he explained. "Never remove more than a third of the green growth at one time."
Fowler added that when you are cutting, it's good to vary your pattern.
While spring does give us some good showers, if we hit a lull in the rain, Fowler said to absolutely give the yard a drink.
As we head toward another weekend of home and garden centers being bared down upon with weekend yard warriors, what should they invest in to get the green lush lawn they want?
If medical doctors have the Hippocratic Oath stating "first do no harm" the same should apply to your yard.
There are many things to put on your yard but first Fowler reminds you to get the debris off of your yard from last year's leaves and what's left over from winter.
He also recommends doing a soil test before you buy anything to put down.
"We can tell a lot about your yard and about your soil with a soil test," he said. "It's a real basic nutrition level kind of thing."
Fowler compared it to your doctor's exam before deciding what medicine you may need. In this case, the soil test is about what your grass needs.
"It tells us how much we have and how much we need to add so that we're not wasting money," Fowler said.
Fowler added that once you buy it there's a golden rule - the label is the law.
More isn't better, either, if it says a set of five, it means five.
"I like to go two directions because I get better coverage," he said. I'm sure I'm not going to have those crazy skips."
You would think if you go two directions you would be put down twice as much, but Fowler gets around that by cutting the setting in half. If it says a setting of four, he puts it on two and goes rows north and south and then east and west.
Of course, the label is the law, so only water if it's called for.