Making Your Garden Look Fantastic

4 Important Tips for a Naturally Green Lawn

11 October 2017

Philip Newman

A lush green lawn adds value to your home, but maintenance is costly, not to mention polluting and wasteful. Using chemicals on your lawn is dangerous for pets, children and the environment, and watering your lawn many times a week can be expensive. The following tips will help you achieve a lush green lawn with minimal water and no chemicals.

Don't over-water your lawn

When you put too much water on your lawn, the grass gets to drink all the water it needs near the surface. This may seem great, and it produces a green lawn at first, but it causes huge problems later on. When you water too frequently, the roots have no incentive to grow deeper.

This is a problem because water gets stored several inches below the soil-surface during hot weather. When your grass becomes dependent on water near the surface, it doesn't develop a deep enough root system to take care of itself on hot days, or days when you can't to water.

A deep root system is also important for aerating the soil, which further improves a soil's water-storage capacity. Watering too often makes grass that requires frequent watering. You shouldn't need to water your grass more than once a week, even if you live somewhere hot. Consider rainfall equivalent with watering.

Aerate your soil for better water retention

For suburban housing developments, compacted soil is a common problem. When soil is compacted, water doesn't get absorbed. No matter how many gallons you pour on your lawn, the same tiny amount actually goes into the soil to feed the grass.

With compacted soil, most of the water you apply to your lawn goes to waste, evaporated while sitting on the surface. By aerating your lawn, you create pockets where water can be slowly absorbed. This will help keep your grass alive on hot days. Eventually, the grass will form a healthy root system that aerates the soil on its own. Manually aerating the soil is a great way to get the process started.

Always mulch mow

Grass gets its nutrients in the soil. When you cut grass and take the mulch away, you are removing nutrients from the soil system forever. The common solution is to replace the nutrients with chemical fertilizers. A better solution is to cut your grass, but leave the clippings in place. This is healthier for the soil and the grass. By mulch mowing, you can keep your lawn green without ever needing to apply chemical fertilizers.

Mow grass on the highest setting

Set your mower to the highest setting. While you can't let your lawn go to meadow, there's no need to clip it down to an inch. Taller grass shades the soil and prevents water from evaporating. Shorter grass is much more susceptible to drought and will need more water to stay alive.

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