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In this segment I'm going to be offering you my best lawn care tips. If I had to tell the
homeowner two things that they could do to make their lawn better, they would be to mow
high and fertilize in the fall. I know these sound counterintuitive. A lot of people like
to mow lower because it makes the lawn look better, and they like to fertilize in the
spring because they think that's when the grass is growing and that's when it needs
it most, but in both cases, it's counterintuitive what the best thing to do is.
First, let's talk about mowing high. Why would you want to mow high? Mow as high as you can
for two reasons; one, longer grass shades the earth. That does two things. That will
prevent weed seeds from sprouting, or it will certainly allow fewer of them to sprout since
less sunlight is hitting the ground. Also, since less sunlight is hitting the ground,
there will be less evaporation of water, and you'll need to water the turf less. So my
advice is mow as high as you can while your lawn still looks good to you.
The second tip, again, is counterintuitive, and that's to fertilize your lawn in the fall.
Why would you want to do this? Obviously, the lawn is growing most in the spring. You
want to get it to green up quickly, and it seems to make the most sense to fertilize
in the spring, which most people do. But a lot of studies have shown if you fertilize
in the fall, particularly even as late as Thanksgiving, or while the grass is still
green but not growing anymore, what you want is the grass to be photosynthesizing and when
you put down fertilizer or nitrogen, the grass plant take up the nitrogen, and it stores
it as carbohydrates which is going to help your turf get through the winter as sort of
like putting on winter fat. And then in the spring it will green up quicker, and it will
have that nitrogen already in the plant ready for use.
And those are my best lawn care tips.