February may seem like an odd time to think about scheduling lawn care, but it's a great time to put a plan together for a healthy and lush green lawn. At Maier Tree and Lawn, we understand that your lawn is an important part of the ecosystem and needs a plan to be at its best. What is it that makes your lawn such an important part of the local ecosystem? Lawns do a lot more for us than make our homes and landscaping look good. Like trees, grass releases life-giving oxygen into the atmosphere. Lawns also help fight soil erosion and filter pollutants from water runoff. So you see, a great looking lawn is more than just a "pretty face." It helps protect the environment. For your lawn to do its job, it needs to be healthy. To help keep it vigorous and thriving there are a number of lawn care practices you can follow:
- Fertilizing and Weed Control – When it comes to fertilizing and controlling weeds, lawns are not “one size fits all.” A lawn care professional will perform an analysis of your soil to determine what it needs. This helps protect the environment by not applying fertilizers you don’t need for your lawn. The same is true for weed control. The best practice is to use as little herbicide as necessary to control undesired weeds.
- Aeration – Lawn aeration is a process that perforates the ground and removes small plugs of soil. This practice provides several benefits. Aeration allows water, air and nutrients to better penetrate to grass roots. It helps roots grow deeper and also reduces soil compacting.
- Fungus Control– Fungus can come in a number of varieties. The most common symptoms are brown patches or rings that can result in dead grass. Causes can be as varied as drought, mowing too low, too much or wrong fertilizer, excessive watering, or the wrong grass type for the location. A lawn care professional can examine your lawn and suggest the best actions to take for cure and prevention.
- What You Can Do – The two most important things you can do for your lawn are mow at the proper height and water properly. Many homeowners make the mistake of mowing too short. The proper mowing height is 3 to 3 ½ inches. This gives a lush look to your lawn, helps retain moisture, and shades low growing weeds to discourage their growth. When it comes to watering, a good rule of thumb is to give all areas 30 to 60 minutes of watering per week. This will allow the water to soak into the soil and promote healthy root growth. Frequent watering for only a few minutes can actually be detrimental to your lawn. Water doesn’t have a chance to adequately soak into the ground, which can cause shallow roots. Your grass needs a good deep root system to survive during periods of little or no rain.
At Maier Tree and Lawn we like to say we care about all things green and growing. That includes your lawn. Healthy trees, shrubs, and lawns play an important role in keeping our ecosystem and environment healthy. Our goal is to partner with our clients by designing a plan that is right for them. When you have questions about your lawn, contact Maier Tree and Lawn at 507-286-8733 in Rochester or 507-454-7000 in Winona. It’s a great time to start thinking spring. Call us to put together a plan and schedule for your lawn.
