- 1). Determine the life zone in which you live. Your climate will dictate when you have to feed and water your lawn. You can find your life zone by going to the Backyard Gardener website and looking up your coldest nighttime temperatures during the winter. For example, if your winter nights get to -46F or colder, you live in Zone 1. If they seldom freeze, you live in Zone 11.
- 2). Determine your soil types by asking at your local nursery or home improvement store. If your soils are sandy, you will need to water the lawn much more frequently than if you have heavy clay soils. If you are going to need to water your lawn frequently, you might consider an irrigation system. You will also need more nutrients for your lawn if your soil is sand, because nutrients in the soil leach out more quickly than in heavier soils.
- 3). Go to your local garden shop, home improvement store, or nursery, and ask them to recommend the types of food for your lawn based on your soil types and natural rainfall. If you have children or pets who use your lawn, you might opt for using organic fertilizers for your lawn that will not hurt your kids or pets.
- 4). Research the right lawn mowers for your yard. If you have a large lawn, you might want a riding lawn mower. If it's small, you might be able to use a push mower. If you want to minimize your carbon footprint, you'll be happy to know that there are lawn mowers on the market now that pollute little and use much less energy than the older versions.
- 5). Use the edger around sidewalks or places where you don't want to get too close with the lawn mower. Lawn mower blades are sturdy, but hitting a brick or concrete with them is not a good idea.
- 6). Learn when it is time to dethatch your lawn. This is a process where you rake up the thatch (the thick layer of lawn clippings that gather around the bottom of the grass shoots), and aerate the lawn. All plants need oxygen, both above and below the root zone. Dethatching and aerating helps keep your lawn healthy over time. You can do this manually in a small lawn, or mechanically on a larger lawn. You can rent things to dethatch from an equipment store or farm and garden store.
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