Month: August 2016

You’ve done everything that a homeowner should do to keep your lawn healthy and beautiful, including hiring a professional lawn service to apply fertilizer and weed control to your lawn. However, maintaining a beautiful lawn requires both a lawn service and mindful practices that are performed by the homeowner.

One of the most important parts of maintaining a beautiful lawn are the cultural practices that homeowners employ. Mowing and watering are needed for a lawn to be healthy and look its best. 

These are important steps to take when maintaining your lawn throughout the year:

• Keep to a Regular Mowing Schedule. Lawns should be mowed at 3 to 3 1/2 inches during the growing season. The lawn will need to be mowed more frequently in the spring and as needed throughout the growing season.

• Water Consistently. Watering is very important—it keeps your lawn healthy. Usually there is sufficient rainfall in the spring to keep a lawn green and lush. In the months of June, July, and August, it is beneficial for a lawn to receive one and a half inches of water per week. Pittsburgh summers can sometimes be very rainy, but may also suffer from low rainfall or complete lack of rainfall. If that’s the case, it is recommended that a homeowner water in the morning, not in the late afternoon or evening.

Keep Your Lawn Watered to Avoid Turf Damage

Lack of watering in the summer months will cause summer stress, which causes the turf to thin and allows crabgrass and unwanted broadleaf weeds to invade your yard. Severe summer stress can lead to permanent turf damage that will require costly repairs. If you are going away for vacation, pay someone to water the lawn in the morning, or ask a neighbor to take over the job while you’re gone.

While many homeowners hire a lawn service to improve the look and health of their lawn, homeowners have as much to do with their lawn’s performance as their lawn care provider. Superior Lawn Service is happy to answer your questions about proper cultural practices for your lawn. Give us a call. We service all areas in southwestern PA, including North Huntingdon, Wexford, Indiana, Upper St. Clair, Belle Vernon, and Moon Township.

During hot, humid western Pennsylvania summers, you may wonder how to properly care for your lawn so that it doesn’t become stressed and cause severe damage to your turf. (Even if it is humid the whole summer—and in Pittsburgh, it usually is—that doesn’t mean that any of the moisture is getting into the soil, where the roots of the grass are.)

Proper Watering Practices Keep Your Lawn Healthy

Many factors affect how much water a lawn needs, such as soil types, weather conditions, and maintenance practices. Homeowners often ask us:

• How Much Should I Water? As a general rule, 1 to 1 1/2 inches per week will maintain a lawn’s green color and active growth of cool-season grasses. Whether watering by means of an irrigation system or hand watering with the hose, it is recommended to water deeply and as infrequently as possible to avoid promoting a shallow root system. Remember, if your soil is heavier clay, that means that if can hold water better than “lighter” soil.

• Should I Water Every Day? Water conservation is an important element of being a responsible environmental steward. Your lawn should never be irrigated on a set schedule, but rather watering should only take place when visual signs such as footprints not springing back up, or a color change on the grass blades, is observed.

• Should I Water in the Morning or Evening? The best time of day to water is in the morning. Watering at midday brings evaporation problems and late evening to night time watering increases the incidence of turf grass diseases.

Homeowners hire a professional lawn service company, like Superior Lawn Care, to improve the look and health of their lawn. As a homeowner, you also have a big role to play in keeping your lawn healthy and well-tended so that it looks its best.

Superior Lawn Care knows that you may have questions about how when and how often to water your lawn to prevent heat stress. Give us a call—we’re happy to talk you through it. We service all areas in southwestern PA, including Moon Township, North Huntingdon, Upper St. Clair, Indiana, Belle Vernon, and Wexford.