First-Time, New Homeowner’s Guide To Lawn Care

A wonderfully green lawn is often the first thing you spot when you arrive at a potential home or the first place you step as you make your way to the front door. And once the house hunt is over and you’ve officially found “the one,” you want to do everything you can to keep that lawn looking as lovely as it did the first time you saw it.

So how can you keep your lawn looking its best? How much fertilizer do you need, and when should you seed it? Oh, and, is it really possible to keep grass green in the sweltering days of summer? If questions like these are swirling around in your head, you’ve come to the right place!

A New Homeowner's Guide to Lawn Care

Read through this handy guide for all the tips you need to care for your lawn year-round.

Spring and summer lawn care for beginners

Here are five ways to keep your lawn green and healthy as it comes out of a chilly winter and prepares for summer’s heat.

1. Slightly before the start of spring, protect your lawn from crabgrass.
2. Rise, shine, and water your lawn. Watering early helps keep the lawn hydrated throughout the day. Lawns need an inch of water per week, which comes out to about 20 minutes of watering three times a week.
3. Don’t just accept a brown lawn in summer—keep it green with these tips.
4. Mow your lawn to a height of 2-to-4-inches depending on your grass type and avoid trimming more than 1/3 of the lawn’s height at one time.

How to take care of a lawn in fall

The fall season is the ideal time to prep your lawn for a dormant winter and tee up next year’s growth. Here are five things you should do for your lawn in fall.

1. If you have grass like tall fescue, overseed in early fall.
2. Waterless as the temperature ticks down. In fall, your lawn only needs to be watered once or twice a week.
3. Speed through fall leaf cleanup by breaking down leaves with a mulching mower.
4. Pencil in the last mow of the season right around November.
5. Apply fertilizer to your lawn a couple of weeks before winter’s freeze. (Feed is a term we are getting away from; maybe reword: Provide your lawn with fertilizer.

Common lawn issues and how to treat them

Trying to troubleshoot a problem with your lawn? Let’s get to the bottom of it. Here are three common lawn problems and tips for tackling them.

Problem: You fertilized your lawn, and now it’s turning yellow.
Solution: Too much fertilizer can burn your lawn. Luckily there are a few ways to turn things around. Start with water, then try out other repair tips if needed.

Problem: Your lawn’s been overrun by weeds.
Solution: Your task is to make your lawn a place where weeds won’t want to grow. Keeping up with proper mowing, seeding and fertilization will help.

Problem: Your lawn is turning brown in summer.
Solution: This blog post breaks down four reasons why your lawn is struggling in summer, and what to do.

If you need a hand with lawn care at your new home, a local Davey expert is just a call away!