What Are The Ten Steps To A Beautiful Lawn?

I have allot of grass to cut, but I am very thankfully that I have it. My family and I live on my old home place. There are ten ways that will help me to be able to grow and keep a healthy lawn. The first way is for me to always mow the grass high. This is done because my lawn consists of million of grass plants, and every time I mow my lawn, this removes part of each plants leaf. Because if I mow too frequently, this limits leaf development, reducing the plant"s ability to produce and can not store enough nutrients. If this happens, my lawn will become thin, weak and there will be allot of weeds instead of grass. Since I live in the south I mow the lawn higher in the summer and early fall, this is when the grasses are actively growing. St. Augustine and Bahia I cut them 3 to 41/2 inches high and Bermuda grass 2 to 3 inches high. Centipede and zoysia grasses I do not have, but they need to be cut 2 to 3 inches high. I like to also write about grasses that are grown in northern lawn. In spring and early fall the lawns do not need to be no shorter than 3 inches high, when they are most actively growing. In summer mow higher around 4 inches. In late fall and early spring mow the grass 2 inches or less. As the grass becomes more active, gradually raise the mowing height on the grass. The second step to a beautiful lawn is to not cut off too much at once. I I only cut it when it needs to be cut, because if I do not do this, the grass plant will put all of its energy into replacing the lost leaf area, and that stops root growth, food storage, and many other vital functions. I always keep a check on my grass height and I do not let my grass grow no more than 41/2 inches. The third step is I do not bag my clippings, because I like to leave them where they fall so they can break down and feed my lawn, and this reduce its need for fertilizer. Another reason is this gives my lawn a greener, deep-rooted lawn, and it helps the environment because my grass clippings will not end up in a landfill. I leave my grass clippings on my lawn up to 2 inches long and use my mulching mower to do this. Those finely mulched clippings will go to the base of my plants and they will decompose within two weeks. The fourth way is to keep my mower blades sharp. If a mower blade is not sharp, the grass leaf will shred instead of cut and this leaves an unsightly gray tip and that will invite insects and disease. I start off every mowing season with a sharp blade. I let professional sharpening my mower blades. If I get small nicks on my mower blades. I can use a file and I can smooth them out. If the nicks are large, I have to get a new blade I put up sticks, rocks, and other debris out of my yard, before I start mowing, trying to prevent damage to my blades. The fifth way is for me to water wisely. If I water my lawn, lightly, this will cause my lawn to be more vulnerable to pests, weeds, and disease. To help the lawn to root deeply, I need to not start watering my lawn to early in the spring. I need to let the roots reach deeper as the soil gets dryer. I can tell if I need to water my lawn when I walk across it and I can see my footprints on my lawn. When this happens, I will have to fully saturate the soil for a hour or two. I push a spade 6 inches into the soil and move it forward; the soil should be moist all the way down to the bottom of the roots. After that, I will water my lawn heavy, one time a week, and twice if it is really hot, dry and windy. I always water my grass real early in the morning, so that it has all day to dry, because wet grass at nighttime will cause disease. Lawns need about 1 inch of water every week. To make sure of the right amount of water, put a tuna fish can down and when it is full, then the water needs to be cut off. If the lawn is overwatered this makes the soil to have no oxygen in and carbon dioxide can not get out. This also causes fungus and germinates weed seeds The test of the soil is another good way for my lawn to be beautiful. I need to get my soil test, so I can find out if my soil is good for my lawn. The simplest and most inexpensive kind of soil test checks the pH level which is the acidity or alkalinity of the soil. On a pH scale, 7 will be neutral, lower is acidic and higher is alkaline. Lawn grasses grow best in 6.7pH, which is a slightly acidic soil. Another way to keep my lawn beautiful is to have good topsoils which it may be that my soil is good enough, I may need to improve my soil. My soil is full of earthworms, microogranism that keep the soil loose and break down minerals. All of this makes the dirt into the fertile soil which make my soil real good. Now if my soil is compacted, I will need to do some aeration. I will do this by using an aerating machine that punches holes into the soil about 2 inch deep and 6 inches apart, pulling out plugs of earth and this will provide room for water, air and fertilizer, so the roots can flourish. I need to do this when the grass is actively growing, so the roots can heal and then fill the holes before the weeds can get started. The next one is not to overfertilize my lawn. Allot of lawn fertilizers are high in nitrogen and fast-acting, but this will weaken grass by overstimulating its growth. The best fertilizer for my lawn is one that will feed it slowly. Organic fertilizer which is made from natural source such as grain, manure, fish, or kelp is one and the other type of fertilizer is a synthetic slow-release fertilizer with a high percentage of controlled-release nitrogen such as sulfic-coated urea. Fertilizers needs to be used only when the soil needs to have nutrients added to it. Since my soil is good, I will only fertilizer my lawn three times a day, and I don"t put more than one pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet at a time. The next way to have good lawn is to always feed the lawn at the right time. If fertilizer is put on the lawn at the wrong time it will be real bad for the grass, because the weeds will take over the grass. Southern grasses needs to be fertilize two or three times a year. The best times are spring , summer,, and early fall. The last fertilizer needs  to be done six to eight weeks before the first frost comes. Northern grasses needs to be fertilize only once or twice a year. Northern grasses needs to be fertilize in the winter because this helps to nurture the grass through winter and thicken it in the spring. Do not fertilize anytime through the summer. The last way is to get rid of thatch. Thatch is like a sponge that soaks up water and fertilizers before they can get to the roots of lawn grasses. The best way to get rid of thatch is by using dethatching machines and power rakes and Northern lawns are done in early spring or fall and Southern lawns are done in late spring. Now if you want to get rid of thatch permanently, it has to decompose. Earthworms and microbes digest thatch where it meet the soil. This is done by making sure the surface soil pH isn't too acidic. Biological dethatching products can add more of the soil microorganism that will decompose dead plant tissue, but it will not set rid of the thatch.permanently is to combine these approaches with the other nine steps of good lawn maintenance.