How to get green grass

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• SOIL - Do you have that one patch that just never seems to grow anything. Soil pH actually has a lot to do with giving your lawn a strong starting chance and a lifetime of maintenance free greeness. You don't need to send soil samples to the farm bereau, unless you're into that sort of thing. If you are starting fresh, I have had success simply roto tilling in Black Kow compost or similar manure product directly into the existing soil. It's the simplest and most economical solution and the new seed loves it.


• SEED - I don't think that any brand of seed is superior to the other. What I have learned over the years is how to read the label on the package. It's that little white sticker that looks like a mattress tag. On that label is a single line of information that is most important...Noxious Weed Seed. You want this number to be zero or as close to zero as possible. The less weed seed, the more grass seed.





Amazing Grass Seed starts to sprout within just 10 days...grows anywhere in North America! CanadaGreen brand of grass seed is a hardy mixture of grasses that grows a lush lawn anywhere in the USA and Canada! It's tough enough to survive heavy foot traffic, drought, heat, even cold and snow. Crowds-out weeds, to save you some back-breaking work! Grows even in problem areas. Two-lb. bag of seed covers 1000 sq. ft.



• WATER - The one way to surely be unfaithful to your lawn is to not water it religiously. If you are not going to be dedicated to watering your lawn, then I suggest astro turf, rocks, or mulch. Without watering on a regular basis (and this is twice a day at least when establishing your lawn), you are simply throwing your money and time out the window. So, WATER,WATER,WATER.





Programmable Watering Timer
Easy-to-Program Water Timer Schedules Multiple Watering Sessions. Whether you use a lawn sprinkler to water your grass or a line system to water plants, adding a timer to your system can automate watering. The Aquadue Duplo Automatic Programmable Watering Timer is a two-line water timer that provides up to three irrigations a day for each line, so you'll be able to water the lawn twice a week and plants every other day, if you so desire.




• SHARP MOWER BLADES - Many people forget to fine tune the one piece of equipment that makes a lawn look its finest, the lawn mower. Every spring you should perform a tune-up on this work horse machine. Change or at the very least add some oil. Check the spark plug and clean the air filter. And most importantly, SHARPEN THE BLADES. For a very small fee, most lawn mower shops will do this for you in minimal time. Otherwise, you can do all of this on your own with similar results. A sharp blade will keep the tips of your grass blades greener longer. The sharp blade will cut the grass rather than tear it. The finely cut blades are less suseptible to disease. If you are willing to get your hands dirty, this handy DIY Mower Tune Up Guide will come in handy.

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For instant greening up of your lawn, a heavy nitrate and iron application will usually do the trick. This adds very little to the overall health of the lawn, but the results are pretty instant. Usually with 2-3 days after an application, you will notice a green up of your lawn. I do not reccomend this as a regular maintenance application. Nitrates stick around for a long time if they are not absorbed by the plants. If you have a well system for your water source, I would even go as far as to say do not use a nitrate fertilizer. You can get the same results in a slower time table with manure or less concentrated fertilizers.

Grass is a water hog. And I am mainly speaking of fescue and kentucky blue grass. The biggest expense for a healthy lawn is the watering. Timed automatic watering systems take the human out of the equation. If you have a manual watering system, your lawn will struggle. No matter how regimented we think we are, we never water the same amount or in the same places. Small variations can cause havoc on your lawn. Too much water in one place leads to brown spot rot. Too little water on the wrong day and the grass withers away. Water at the wrong time of the day and the droplets of water act as prisms and burns the grass. If you are serious about having the pristine lawn, invest in an automatic sprinkler system.

The cold weather months are a time for your root system to dig for deeper ground. There are many winter season fertilizers that specifically target root growth. If you have a lawn that browns up or goes dormant in the winter, you may want to consider Rye Grass. This inexpensive seed can be spread over any type of lawn. Rye is an annual plant. It will grow for a single season and then die. What is does provide is an inexpensive solution to keeping the look of a green lawn through the cold winter months. Rye grass can also be used for a quick lawn.

Want to learn some tricks of the trade? Then check out Lawn Tricks by Simon Purcill, a lawn care specialist.

If you don't feel like reading, a brand new video series just came out teaching you the proper care for you lawn. Harry's Lawn Care Video Series will give you step by step procedures on creating and maintaining the lawn to be envied by others.

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