There is nothing better than a green lawn in the fall! Whether you are a new homeowner laying sod for the first time DIY style, or simply patching holes in your yard from the phone companies’ most recent digging site, there are a few tips to know to make your sod laying experience easier, and more successful.

Tips:

1. Prepare the bare spot for sod. If you are laying sod in an area that is sandwiched between healthy sections of lawn, dig a shallow trench through the bare area, and remove the excess dirt. The shallow trench will allow the new sod’s root system to rest (once installed) at about the same level as that of the root systems of the established grass on either side, where it will be protected from the elements or changing temperatures.
2. Give your sod an easy start. No matter how tempting, do not just lay sod down on existing dirt, which may have dried out, or been left uneven and rocky. Always lay a light coating of topsoil on the area before you lay down the sod, to provide the root system with an easy area to acclimate itself to.
3. Tuck in the loose ends! Leaving the corners and edges of fresh sod exposed (like below) is a big no-no in sod installation. Edges that do not fit well within the bounds of the alloted area can dry out, freeze, or otherwise become a tripping hazard in the lawn. One a newly established piece of sod begins to dry out, it is very easy for the rest of the entire piece to follow suit. It is always better to re-trim the sod piece, or adjust the shallow trench area around the sod to provide a better fit for the new grass. Tuck under any root growth on the sod’s edges so that they are below the soil line.

 4.  Secure the sod firmly into the dirt with stakes, or turf pins. Once you have set your sod into place, lightly stretch out the sod patches to ensure a tight fit to the hole. Pin the sod down to the ground to help the root system retain it’s moisture longer, and remain in place. A firmly attached section of sod will establish more quickly than a piece that has simply been set into place, and had pressure applied to it. I recommend using a product called “GreenStakes” to pin down sod, since they are stronger than metal pins, and 100%  naturally biodegradable!

  5.  Apply pressure to your sod. Landscape companies employ the use of a stone roller, to smooth and firm large areas of new sod, but you can do the same job yourself. When you have completed your sod installation it is actually important to walk over the top of, an otherwise apply pressure to the surface of the new sod. Applying pressure helps settle the new grass into your lawn where it will be protected, and flattens any lumps and bumps along the way. 

Your Thoughts: These are my top five tips to sod laying. Do you have any sod tips of your own to pass on? 

If you can only afford to do one thing to your yard this year, core aeration is what you should do! Core aeration is the hands-down best thing for the long term health of any lawn, regardless of the organic make-up of your soil, or variety of grass you have planted.

Core aeration benefits all soil types, and mature or juvenile lawns, here’s how:

The best soil in the world needs three things to provide for plant’s needs, those things are water, air, and organic matter. Soil without these three things can’t provide a healthy balance of organisms, and nutrition in the soil to encourage a healthy lawn. Whether your lawn is new or old, it can always benefit from aeration either alone, or in tandem with a re-seeding program, to ensure a healthy balance of the three things a lawn needs most!

1. For rocky, or nutrient lacking soil, core aeration breaks up the soil, loosening hard-pan dirt, and allowing oxygen, and moisture into the root area. Core aeration then becomes a tool that can better prepare your soil for “top dressing”, seed, or fertilizer.
2. In compacted soil, aeration provides your grass with a better chance of survival, giving roots looser areas to grow in, thereby encouraging deeper root growth. Aerating compacted soil also reduces the water run-off.
3. For new lawns, core aeration gives you a great head start in preparing your yard for seed, fulfilling the three basic need of a yard, and providing holes deeper in the ground for young shoots to begin life. Often core aeration can often give your yard a jump start after “clean slate overseeding” (beginning a new yard from scratch), producing quick “plugs” of grass across your yard that will fill in the lawn faster than simple overseeding alone.
4. For older lawns, aeration can loosen, and prevent excessive thatching of the lawn as well as allowing deeper penetration of water, minerals, and air. With a thick, lush lawn, aeration can be used as a quick refresher, balancing out the three basic needs of the grass, and preventing the overcrowding in a lawn that can open your yard up to pests and disease.

The bottom line with core aeration is that it is a quick and “green” way to make a real difference in the overall health of your lawn no matter your circumstances, and a healthy lawn requires fewer pesticides, fertilizers, and time to maintain! Check your budget this year, and consider whether you can impliment core aeration as part of your lawn care program.

The height of your grass after cutting actually matters when planning for the long-term health of your lawn. A scalped lawn mowed too short can actually stress grass, and open it up to sun damage, diseases and pests, all of which can wreak havoc on the curb appeal of your home. The average lawn is made up of a blend of several grass seed varieties, and while pure seed lawns containing only one variety of grass may vary in their needs, the average lawn will benefit from a mowing height of 1  1/2 - 2 inches tall after cutting.  This is the average desirable height for fall, spring, and winter.

Summer mowing height should be adjusted up, to protect lawns from sun scorching, and drying out too quickly, which can contribute to summer dormancy in many varieties of grass. An average post-mowing height in the summer should range between 3-4 inches, to reduce stress on grass blades, and to provide more shade for the root system and soil, so that both the plant and the soil can retain their moisture better.

Remember this fall to adjust your mower back down to a lower height for shorter mowing, and mark your calandar in late May to change your mowing setting again to a taller height for the summer heat - your lawn will thank you for it!

We all want a healthy lawn, but when the summer heat strikes, it may be hard to know how to achieve that end when it comes to proper watering.  We’ve all heard that ‘less can be more,’ but in lawn care, that adage has a different meaning.  Grass is, as a rule, a cool weather crop.  There are many varieties of grass that respond differently to heat, drought, and certain times of the year, and I will go into that at another time.  Today though I want to give you a few rules of thumb on how to assist your lawn through hot weather.

1. Set your expectations realistically. Not every lawn can be a green carpet through the summer. There are varieties of grass that will go dormant in the summer sun (as part of their regular life cycle) no matter how often you water the area.  Most homeowners have lawns that were designed with a mixture of grass seeds in them, and none of these varieties of grass respond exactly the same as the others.  Often, when brown blades of grass are mixed in with green grassy areas it is simply what is known as “shedding.”  And as turf grass grows and spreads, it sheds it’s older blades. Decide for yourself whether the lawn is exhibiting signs of normal seasonal change, or if there is a greater problem in your lawn.
2. Avoid watering your lawn in the summer between the hours of 10am and 5pm.  Each droplet of water on your lawn during peak sun hours can act like a magnifying glass on the grass, and fry the leaf tissue of the plant.  We all know what happens to ants under magnifying glasses, make sure you don’t do the same to your lawn.
3. Remember that if you are running a sprinkler system, or an oscilating sprinkler from a hose, that much of the water you are applying will not make it into the soil, or stay there long, due to the evaporation effect present in hot weather.  Watering a section of lawn for anything less than 30 minutes of continuous spray, or sprinkling, is only hurting the grass, encouraging root systems to grow nearest the surface of the soil where they are the most vulnerable.  (In shady areas, grass will not need as much watering, so use your judgement when deciding if an area needs more water.)  Set a timer, to alert you as to when you will need to move your mobile sprinkler, if you need to water more than one section of grass.
4. The ideal depth of saturation in soil for root growth is in the ballpark of 4-6 inches.  Generally speaking, this is a textbook recommended depth, but not a realistic number to keep in mind when watering your lawn with a goal of achieving it in one day, or even one week.  True moist soil will take a few weeks of repeated watering, although, as I hinted at one above, less can be more.  A few deep waterings, of 30 minutes per patch of grass, are better than daily sprinkles that do not penetrate the soil well, or daily waterings of one hour stretches at a time that create a runny soup of the soil, bogging the area down, or washing the soil’s nutrients down the road with the run-off water.
5. For people with sprinkler systems, or those in the “Green business” I recommend tackling tough open areas (especially around new construction), exposed to a lot of sun with two waterings a day. One shift should be in the early morning, and one in the early evening (to allow for evaporation).  These shift waterings can both be about 30 minutes long, taking into account water loss from sprinkler heads, and the amount of ground each sprinkler head is covering.

Your thoughts:  Do you have any techniques you’ve successfully used to keep your lawn green and lush?