Have you ever dreamed of having a lawn looking like it does on the box of lawn seed? The chances are, the lawns on these boxes have had more than a little editing done to them.
Unfortunately, we can’t photoshop real life, but it is possible to have a lush green lawn! And we’re not talking about dye, chemicals, or obsessive watering.
There are things you can do to give yourself the best chance of having a garden you can admire, so keep reading as we take a look at how to get a green lawn.
- Test Your Soil
Let’s get right into the scientific stuff! Grass will grow most efficiently at a pH of between 6.5 and 7. You could follow all the rest of the advice in this article, but if your soil is too acidic or alkaline, you won’t get that lawn of your dreams.
Some garden centers will offer a soil testing service. You’ll bring in samples from a few different areas of the garden—if the soil is too acidic, pelletized limestone can bring it up a little. If it’s too alkaline, iron sulfate or sulfur will get you closer to the desired pH level.
- Know Your Grass
To the average person, the grass is grass. But when it comes to the grass you’ll see in most gardens, there are around a dozen different types!
This has a bearing on home landscape design projects because your lawn might require a certain type of grass depending on things like climate, shade, and quality of the soil.
You might have googled “landscaping companies near me” to discuss your residential landscaping project—landscapers you speak to will happily discuss the types of grass and what’s best for you.
- Aerate Your Lawn
To get your grass as green as possible, one of the best lawn care tips is to aerate your lawn. Aerating encourages growth by allowing oxygen to permeate the soil and let the root breathe.
If your lawn has lots of foot traffic from children or pets, for example, you’ll absolutely need to aerate regularly to avoid too much soil compaction.
- Water Deep, But Not Too Much
It would be easy to think that to get green grass, you need to make sure you’re watering the lawn as much as possible.
However, it’s much more a case of quality over quantity, or rather, frequency. Instead of a quick 5-minute watering every day, a 30-minute watering, 2-3 times a week will get the water far deeper into the soil and encourage the roots to grow down.
- Get Personal With Weeds
Rather than using a blanket weedkiller on your whole garden, try keeping on top of the problem one weed at a time.
Pulling weeds out by hand is the best way and will force you to be a little more intricate than you would be with a weedkiller.
How To Get a Green Lawn? Patience!
The overriding theme here when finding out how to get a green lawn is to be patient with it. Consistency is key—one or two weeks of good, habitual lawn care will mean nothing if you don’t keep it up.
Did you find this article useful? Check out more like it on the rest of the blog.