Advice About Your Lawn

While TLC can give your lawn the nutrients, fertilizer and weed control solutions that you need to grow a green and healthy lawn, we need your help too. Through regular mowing, watering and leaf removal, you can keep your lawn healthier and stronger for years to come.

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The Care and Feeding of a Great Lawn

Mowing
The first step for any healthy lawn is regular mowing. As grass grows, it needs to be trimmed so that the older portion of every blade is cut away. This allows younger, fresher grass to constantly replace it.

We recommend that you try to cut only about the top third of your lawn. This proportion seems to strike the right balance, and allow for the healthiest possible growth in your lawn.  Cut too short, and you won’t provide shade to the roots  causing the grass  to dry out. Your clippings can be bagged (for a neat appearance) or left on the lawn. For the health of your lawn, it makes little difference either way, since clippings left on the lawn decompose rapidly adding nutrients back into the soil and do not add to the thatch layer.

Watering
Every healthy lawn needs water to keep growing and thriving. Sprinklers and irrigations systems are going to help you get the job done. But you can also maintain a healthy lawn by hand watering, or through direct rainfall.

We recommend that your lawn receive at least one inch of water per week. That’s enough water at an average temperature to keep your lawn quenched and growing.

But in times of light rain, or generally dry conditions, we recommend that you step in and actively water your lawn.  If you spot wilting or “foot printing” on your lawn, it’s best to water heavily, up to a depth of 4-6 inches – or one hour per sprinkler location.

Also, avoid light watering, as it produces shallower roots than you want for your grass. When possible, apply water in the early morning, before the sun gets high. This ensures that the most possible moisture reaches into the soil without evaporating. Avoid watering at night as this may promote mildew and fungus on the lawn.

Leaf Removal
Who likes raking leaves? No one. But your lawn loves it, and benefits greatly when you sweep leaves away from the grass.

Leaves can form a blanket over a lawn, depriving it of the regular amounts of sunlight, nutrients, air circulation and water.

That doesn’t mean you have to pluck every single leaf on your lawn.  You just need to rake often enough to let your lawn breathe and feed on water and sunlight as it usually would.