7 Steps to a Livable Lawn

Leaving lawn clippings on your lawn provides half of the nitrogen your lawn needs each year. By hauling away your grass clippings, you are depriving your lawn of a natural fertilizer that can make your grass more disease and drought tolerant. Mow when your grass is dry, and never cut it shorter than 4-4½ inches or remove more than one third of the leaf surface at any one mowing.  Read More

Reducing the size of your lawn by expanding or creating beds with native or drought-tolerant plants and trees has a multitude of benefits.   Read More

A soil test will identify common nutrient deficiencies in your lawn, and can provide information on the proper amount of lime and fertilizer to apply. Soil testing is the only way to determine the proper ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium to apply to a lawn.   Read More

Don’t use more fertilizer than is necessary for the size of your yard. Too much fertilizer can actually weaken your lawn, making it more susceptible to pests, weeds, and disease. To avoid purchasing and applying too much fertilizer, you need to carefully measure your yard to determine the square footage.  Read More

Always be sure to sweep excess fertilizer back into the lawn. When runoff water carrying fertilizer moves over paved surfaces (streets, parking lots, etc.) there is no soil to filter it and it may flow directly into our waterways. Though many people believe otherwise, storm drains do not carry stormwater to wastewater treatment plants but instead, flow UNTREATED directly into our rivers and streams.   Read More

When the weather gets cooler (between 55 and 65 degrees), your lawn starts to concentrate on growing new roots and grass plants. Fall is the time to apply fertilizer so you’ll have strong roots and more shoots in spring.   Read More

Do not fertilize or mow adjacent to waterways by leaving a "ring of responsibility" of at least 10 feet. Leave a “buffer zone”—a strip of unmanaged grasses or natural vegetation—to grow around the shoreline.   Read More