SolveYourProblem
Lawn Care Article Series
Practical
Tips For The Perfect Lawn
What’s
the Best Lawn Grass for You?
Lawn
care is not only hard work, but it can also be very confusing. If you live in a suburban neighborhood,
you know how much peer pressure there is to have the perfect
lawn, but that there is a lot to keep track of in the process.
You have to know when to fertilize, which fertilizer to use
for the time of year, and then there is the decision of which
grass type you are going to use for your lawn. There are many
factors that may determine what type of grass you want to seed
in your lawn, but the first will likely be the climate in which
you live.
For instance, if
you live in the southern United States, where
the weather is warm almost year around, you will likely want
to plant what is called a warm season grass. Warm season grasses
do their active growing roughly between the months of April
and October. Warm season grasses, as you may guess, prefer
warmer climates. For proper growth of warm season grasses,
your area needs soil temperatures to be around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Be careful; don’t make the mistake of trying to plant a warm
season grass if you live too far north. The grasses are genetically
bred to grow in warm climates and will not be able to survive
a Midwestern or northern winter. Bermuda grass is an example
of warm season grasses.
If, however, you
live in the Midwest or northern part of the country, then you will want to think about planting what is
called a cool season grass. Cool season grasses do most of
their growing in late spring and early fall. Because they are
bred for cooler weather, their growth usually slows down considerably
during the heat of the summer. The best time to plant your
cool season grass is the early fall. If, however, you want
to plant at a different time of year, be careful that you do
so when soil temperatures are around 50 degrees Fahrenheit,
which would likely be in the spring. Kentucky bluegrass is
cool season grass for example.
A third option, and one that is best for beginners, is to
plant a grass seed mixture. The mixture will contain a number
of different grass species in it. Planting a mixture will help
you to avoid disease in your lawn. Most fungi that attack lawns
are specific to certain species of grass. If there are various
species growing in the yard, it is hard for fungi or other
diseases to spread from one plant to another when there are
other species buffering them from one another. Mixed lawns
will tend to adjust themselves to differences in the soil makeup
or sun exposure in different parts of the lawn. All in all,
a mixture is lower maintenance for a lawn care beginner.
Another kind of grass you will want to think about for your
lawn is not one you would make your base grass in the lawn,
but can be a big part of the overall look of your landscaping.
That type of grass, of course, is what is called ornamental
grass. Ornamental grasses are becoming an increasingly popular
way to improve the look of lawns and landscaping all over the
country. While ornamental grasses can be grown from seed, the
most popular way of raising it is to buy pots of the grass.
Each pot can be divided up to make more grass, and if you are
savvy with grass you will be able to grow all of the ornamental
grass you could want.
Growing
and maintaining a lawn can actually be stressful if
you don’t know what you are doing. When it comes to seeding
a lawn, the number of species and options in the grass seed
aisle of your local garden store can be intimidating. However,
if you educate yourself through a little research, you can
make good decisions about the grass to plant in your lawn.
Talk to a representative at your local nursery or garden store
and find out what is best. If you decide to go with a mixture,
the same representative can help you select the mixture that
will work best for you and require the least maintenance. # # # # #
SolveYourProblem.com : 2007
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