If you didn’t have a healthy lawn last summer, your lawn care practices might be at the root of the problem. Actually, a healthy lawn needs very little care and quite often learning what lawn care tips not to try is the best advice you can get.

Don’t over water. A healthy lawn needs about an inch of water a week and it’s best if it gets it all at once. You can check this easily by digging a plastic cup into your lawn. Watering deep allows the water to sink and gives your grass incentive to grow roots and find the water. Saturating your lawn will drown the roots and watering too shallow will keep them satisfied with their present depth. Shallow rooted grass is no competition for deep-rooted weeds.

Don’t over fertilize. In fact, if you rarely fertilize, both your turf and your topsoil would be better off. Aside from the fact that chemical fertilizers aren’t safe for your family and the critters that live in your lawn (which are mostly beneficial), chemical fertilizers aren’t safe for your soil. Although they are called “lawn food”, what they really are is “turf candy”. Grass, like any other plant gets its true nourishment from the soil. Don’t feed the plant… learn how to feed the soil through sound organic lawn care methods.

Healthy lawn care starts with healthy topsoil. Your lawn will thrive with four inches of healthy top soil, but it will be at its best with six. The problem is how do you get more top soil without ruining the turf you already have? Simply said, topsoil is the top four to ten inches of dirt under your turf except that this layer of earth should be nutrient rich and robust with organic matter and some little critters (like earthworms). If you don’t have good topsoil, you won’t be able to maintain good turf. You can start building good topsoil in the fall by mulching with good organic compost. About a third of an inch of fine compost on top of your grass will fall between the blades and soak into the earth over winter.

In the spring, aerate your lawn. This will work some of the left over compost deeper and in addition give your lawn and the critters that live in the soil a breath of fresh air. Aeration also makes new channels for water to pass through and helps break up clumps of earth that impede drainage.

When mowing, mow high. Mowing high gives your grass takes weeds out of the competition for sunlight. In addition, longer grass is more apt to propagate through rhizome growth. More grass means less weeds and less weeds mean more healthy grass! Healthy grass means less lawn care and more time to enjoy your lawn!