A lush green lawn makes any home look and feel beautiful! If you’re planning to enhance your landscaping, you might be thinking whether to get professional lawn service or go for DIY lawn care. If you opt for the do–it–yourself way, this post can offer you some effective tips to approach it.  Maintaining and taking care of your lawn by yourself can produce great results, provided you’re taking the right steps.  

Do–It–Yourself Lawn Care Tips

1. Prepare your Lawn

The first step is to prepare your yard for your new lawn. Inspect your yard to find weeds. Dig the weeds up and till the soil to discourage regrowth.  

In case you want to start your lawn right from the scratch, remove the existing grass. Consider renting a sod cutter for removing the grass. If you have some stretches of grass that are growing well, you may leave them. However, if you plant a different grass seed type, your lawn would look patchy.  

Remove sticks, rocks, and other debris in your lawn and dig up any old roots.

Proper lawn preparation would make sure your canvas is prepared right for lush green grass.

2. Test the pH of Soil

In case you want to plant new grass, make sure you get your soil’s pH level tested before starting. Your soil’s pH level would determine the ability of the grasses to absorb nutrients from the soil. Nurseries and hardware stores offer gardening catalogs and do-it-yourself kits. Once you determine the pH of your soil, you will have an idea of what grass seed you should plant and soil compounds needed for growing the healthiest grass.  

Your soil should have a proper pH to allow optimum growth. The measurement of pH is made on the scale of 1 to 14, and 7.0 is considered as neutral. Any number below 7.0 indicates that the soil is acidic whereas a number above 7.0 shows the soil to be alkaline. For most plants, a nearly neutral soil having a pH level between 6.2 and 7.2 is preferable.  

The most effective way of adjusting the pH of soil is adding organic material to it, like compost. This balances acidic as well as alkaline soils and also improves the soil structure. Adding lime to soil increases the pH of soil while adding sulfur lowers the pH. To know the proper amounts that you should add, consider consulting your local gardening store or nursery.  

3. Prime the Soil

Once the soil attains the proper pH, prime it by eliminating all roots and weeds and then rototilling a few inches (6 inches is recommended) for loosening compact heavy soil. It’s a good idea to add loam too, which consists of clay, silt, and sand in equal parts, since it helps enrich the soil. Pack the soil using a roller and then groom it using a metal rake. 

4. Select the Right Grass Seeds 

Assess the sunlight exposure that would be received by the area where you will plant. In case your lawn gets less than 4 hours of sunlight a day, choose a grass that can grow well in shade. Some grass types grow well in full sun, while others prefer shade. 

Your selection of seed should be based on the sunlight available, your climate, and level of use (i.e., is the lawn for actual use or show). The popular grasses suitable for warm weather include Zoysia grass, Carpet grass, Buffalo grass, Bermuda grass, and Bahia grass. Grasses suitable for cool climate are Bentgrass, Bluegrass, Fesque grass, and Ryegrass. If you live in an area having both warm and cool seasons (transition zone), the grass types for cool season would make a better choice. In case you need help, consult your local nursery to seek suggestion on what type of grass would be most suitable for your climate.  

5. Maintain your Lawn 

Maintenance is a crucial part of lawn care. Whether you are creating a new lawn or tweaking the lawn that you have already planted, weeding, fertilizing, watering, and cutting will help your lawn keep looking happy and green. Following are some great lawn maintenance tips: 

• Mow your grass high (only the grass’s top third portion) 
• Fertilize twice every year 
• Deep water weekly 
• Aerate the lawn 
• Prevent and control weeds 

 DIY lawn care is easy and effective with these great tips. However, if your busy schedule doesn’t allow you to take the DIY way, consider hiring a reputed local lawn care services company. Such a company can offer you reliable weed control service and landscaping services, resulting in a lush and beautiful lawn.