The Biggest Lawn Care Mistake
This blog is going to feature the top lawn care mistake that everyone makes. Now that we are approaching the height of your lawn’s upcoming peak season, we wanted to give you as much help and support as we can when it comes to caring for your lawn.
Of course, we are here at Ruff and Ready for all your lawn care services and more, so if you need help or want a professional to do the work for you, give us a call!
Please remember that some of these services we are about to mention occur more often than others, and some may be seasonal, but it is important to avoid these lawn care mistakes to get the very best results for your lawn.
After thorough research, we have found the essential top four mistakes made in lawn care and will focus on the number one mistake for this blog. Hopefully, after reading this, you will feel confident enough for yourself to do this service correctly. (Do not forget you have us in your back pocket).
The top four areas where lawn care mistakes are made include:
- Watering
- Mowing
- Fertilizing
- Herbicide
Now, most of the services listed above are common, and all are needed to ensure your lawn’s overall health. These vital services in lawn care can overall make or break your lawn for the upcoming spring season or even the entire year. Our goal with this blog is to make you aware of the first mistake and then eventually the rest in upcoming blogs to correct them. This will restore your confidence in the ability to care for your lawn while also ensuring your lawn is healthy and vibrant this year. The number one mistake is something as simple as watering your lawn!
How do I properly water my lawn?
As crazy as it seems, incorrectly watering your lawn is a major and common mistake people make. This is most likely because you can make a mistake in two areas. You can potentially over-water your lawn or perhaps under-water your lawn.
Believe it or not, there is an actual amount of water recommended for your lawn each week. That recommended amount is one inch of water for your lawn weekly. But there is a catch, of course, that total amount is not only the water you use to water the lawn. Rainfall also has to be included in the total amount of one inch. That means you should be looking at the news or googling the rainfall amounts or potential rainfall amounts weekly. (This is easier than you think, as the numbers are given to you each day on the news).
How do I keep track of water amounts on my lawn?
Another way to determine how much water your lawn has taken in is to check your lawn for water buildup or dryness. Whatever you find in your search will tell you the next thing you have to do. If your lawn has water buildup, it has been overwatered, so do not add more water. You may also want to sweep or find a way to put that water through your drainage system if you have it or at least sweep it off your lawn because water buildup could lead to lawn disease and pests.
If your lawn happens to be too dry, this will occur more often in the summer, especially here in California. The obvious next step here is to water your lawn. In the hotter months, you should water your lawn during the day so that it can be absorbed during the afternoon, as you do not want your lawn to still be wet or moist during the night. A wet lawn at night tends to breed diseases and attracts unwanted pests and insects. This occurs when the lower, cooler temperatures mix with your already wet lawn and does not allow them to dry and absorb the water. If you go and water the next morning, you run the chance of overwatering your lawn or causing water buildup.
This just proves that you have to check on your lawn to ensure you maintain it properly and that it is thriving and healthy. If your lawn is unhealthy and full of disease, the rest of your landscape will not be able to prosper and flourish for the entire season or potentially the year, killing your plant life altogether.
What can I do if my lawn is not watered properly?
There are two solutions to ensure your lawn is properly watered and will remain healthy for the entire year. Those two things are:
- Have an irrigation system installed.
- Hire a professional.
Having an irrigation service installed is the first step to solving your water problem. Like we said above, you will need to hire a professional to do that. There are two options when getting an irrigation service installed. You can go for the basic sprinkler system that will attach to a timer and water your lawn whenever you set it to do so. You will, however, still need to keep track of the amounts of water on your property to decide to use the sprinkler system that day or not.
The other option is an elevated irrigation service. That is a drip irrigation system. The drip system is made up of tubing hidden amongst your landscape and sprinkler-like heads that can be placed in pots, hanging planters, or wherever you need them. Drip irrigation focuses on all plant life on your landscape as well as your lawn. It allows all types of plant life on your property to get their specific required amounts of water while providing the basic amount to the plant life and lawn that just needs to be water. Drip irrigation can be linked to smart devices in your homes, such as Google Home or Alexa, and can track how much water has been given to your plant-life and lawn. It then determines how much water is needed.
Basically, the drip irrigation system does more work, so you do not. Either irrigation system will solve your watering issues. No matter what system or resolution you choose, the first step is hiring a professional. If we maintain your lawn and landscape annually, you might not even need an irrigation system if the professionals handle your property and problems. If we feel an irrigation service is needed, we will tell you.
We hope this blog provided much-needed information on watering your lawn. Remember that the Ruff and Ready team is here for all your lawn care needs and more!
And keep checking out our blogs for information on the other lawn care mistakes! Stay tuned!
So if you are a resident of Menifee, Murrieta, Temecula, CA, or any of their adjoining areas, give Ruff and Ready a call today!