2 Areas To Check And Manage With Your Lawn To Keep It Healthy

Your lawn makes up a big surface area of your front yard and, as a result, can have a big impact on the appearance of your home exterior. To keep your lawn healthy there are many regulations and rules for you to follow. If you are struggling with your lawn's health or just starting out with a new lawn, here are some areas to check and manage with your lawn to help keep it healthy, growing well, and attractive for your yard.

1. Soil Health

The health and pH of your soil can have a direct impact on your lawn's growth. Many factors can alter the pH level of your lawn's soil, making it more acidic or more alkaline, such as the amount of rainfall, high amounts of organic matter, fertilizers, and pesticides. For this reason, it is important to check and keep the soil's pH in balance. You can buy a soil pH test kit at most home and garden stores to find out if your pH is too low and if the soil is too acidic.

Raising the pH of your soil is an easy process you can do by adding crushed limestone to your soil. Crushed limestone applied onto your lawn will work slowly over the next few years to raise the pH of your soil and also provides calcium and magnesium to the soil, which will additionally benefit your lawn.

Select a pellet form of crushed limestone at a local home and garden store, and apply it onto your lawn by hand or with a rotary spreader. The pellets with dissolve when you water your lawn, which allows the lime to settle onto the soil. Then, recheck your soil pH every few years and adjust it, as necessary.

2. Excessive and Invasive Weed Growth

There are many types of weeds that can take root in your lawn and eventually spread over your entire yard. Weeds can become a big problem when they take up the space in the soil, crowding out your lawn. Some aggressive weeds include morning glory and dandelions. Although dandelions can be eaten for their health benefits, you may not want them taking nutrients and moisture from your lawn, so it is important to eliminate them before they damage your lawn.

Hand-pull from your lawn the entire root of invasive weeds. Make sure to pull them when the soil is moist, which helps make the process easier. For more aggressive weeds, such as morning glory, you may need to apply a broad-leaf herbicide to your lawn to kill the weeds but not harm your lawn.