Sunday, March 30, 2014

Caring For A Grassy Yard

By Emmet Gyzler


When you imagine a beautiful suburban neighborhood, you probably visualize attractive houses with large, green, well-manicured lawns. There are many things you can use to landscape a yard, but grass is by far the most popular and common element used to give life to a homeowner's outdoor space. There's nothing like the feeling of healthy grass under your bare feet. So, to have that ideal front yard, what are some of the steps you need to take?

It seems that the main way we humans use grass is to beautify the exteriors of our homes. However, grass is much more integrated into both society and the ecosystem than many people realize. There are nearly 10,000 different varieties of grass, and some of them are responsible for producing the corn, oats and rice that are the staple of many culture's diets. Additionally, even if humans don't directly eat a particular species of grass, it might still be part of the diet of an animal, perhaps livestock.

Every plant, in some way, shape or form, shares the same needs. Different types of plants are suited for different areas where the required resources have varying availability, but they all need water, sunshine, and nutrition. Grass is no different, and if you want your lawn to look like you could golf on it, these requirements have to be met.

Giving the grass what it needs is the first step to having a beautiful lawn. But your hard work can quickly be undone if a problem grows out of controls. Such problems may come in the form of weeds, malicious insects and diseases that your grass can acquire. Make sure you deal with such issues as fast as possible.

Since the soil that the grass is rooted in is where it will be getting its water and nutrients, you need good soil to have healthy grass. If soil is dense and compacted, air can't penetrate and it won't absorb water efficiently. Additionally, if the ph balance is too high or too low, it can be inhospitable to growing grass. Liming the soil can reduce the acidity of the soil, and sulfur can be used to increase it.

To fortify the soil with needed nutrients, you can employ various types of fertilizer or compost. This is called amending the soil. Different types of grasses have different nutritional needs, so be sure to do some research and find the fertilizer best suited to the needs of the grass that makes up your lawn.

Helping the grass grow into the perfect lawn will take some effort, but it's probably much easier than you would think. All it takes is some good old hard work and a little know-how.




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