lawn

What first-time homeowners should know about fertilizing a lawn

Shortly after buying a home, many first-time homeowners recognize how challenging it can be to maintain a property. Many embrace that challenge and refashion their homes to reflect their personalities, interests and tastes. First-time homeowners may direct the bulk of their attention to decorating...

A rundown on scarifying

To those unfamiliar with lawn maintenance, the term "scarify" might sound like something horror movie directors hope to do to audiences who watch their films. But scarifying has nothing to do with frightening filmgoers, and everything to do with promoting a lush, green and healthy lawn. What does...

Fall leaf mulching is good for your lawn

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Mulching leaves into your lawn is a sustainable and effective practice for healthier turfgrass. Mulch regularly when leaves are dry, and double pass for a finer mulch. This enables them to break down quickly and integrate into the lawn and...

Should you water your lawn before winter?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu This past September we experienced record-setting warm and dry weather across the state, and for most of Minnesota, this trend has continued well into October. Autumn is normally when our lawns are recovering from the drier and warmer...

Maintaining a lawn routinely roamed by pets

Vibrant, green lawns can draw attention to any landscape. Many homeowners toil for hours each week to ensure their lawns are pristine, or invest in lawn care services to help maintain a yard if they do not have the time to do so themselves. While many treatments can be applied to lawns to help them...

What to know about reseeding or replanting your lawn

Spring marks the return of flowering plants and warm weather. And homeowners know that spring also ushers in the return of home renovation season. Homeowners undoubtedly have an extensive list of projects on their to-do list this spring, and that may include helping their lawns and gardens recover...

September lawn care checklist

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Lawn with summer annual grassy weeds and perennial broadleaves that encroached into thin turf With autumn approaching, we will begin seeing cooler daytime and evening temperatures, along with (hopefully) more predictable rainfall...

Can sugar help my lawn or garden?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu A nitrogen-deficient turf stand I have received a few questions from homeowners about using table sugar as a fertilizer substitute for their lawn. There have been a number of blog posts on popular forums that have repeated the idea and...

Raise your mower height

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu Raising your mower height to 3-3.5 inches results in a denser, healthier lawn. As small as they are, longer grass blades mean more photosynthesis and stronger, deeper grass roots. The grass blades also shade the grass crowns and soil,...

What's digging up your yard?

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA EXTENSION - www.extension.umn.edu While vertebrates are doing the most visible damage, the white grubs they’re after are the root of the problem. In some Minnesota lawns, instead of the grass greening up, the grass is being torn up. People are reporting lawns ripped up...