Let's Talk About Turf Maintenance

How do we do it?

There are multiple ways to achieve a gorgeous looking lawn. We're going to cover what we do and some basic fundamentals:

a. Core Aeration    b. Dethatching
c. Overseeding      d. Fertilization
e. Watering             f. Cost

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Thatch is made up of leaves, stems, and roots. It's also part of your turfs natural growing process. As long as your thatch is generally somewhere between 1/2" to 3/4", your thatch is helping your lawn (you can measure it by pulling a small 6-8" plug of soil from your lawn). If your thatch is over 3/4", you need to consider dethatching. You can manually do this with a rake, rent a machine, or have your lawn care professional do it for you. We use the attachment you see here. Ultimately, too much thatch doesn't allow water, nutrients, seed, oxygen, and fertilizer to penetrate the soil... so keep an eye on your thatch.  

There are a lot of variables that go into when you should water your lawn, how much water to use, etc. We'll cover some basic guidelines and what not to do. A good rule to follow is to water in the morning before 10am. Watering in the morning allows time for it soak into the soil before it evaporates and you generally have calmer winds in the morning. Watering late in the evening can and will lead to a greater chance of introducing disease into your lawn. How much should you water? Most established lawns need an inch of water per week that soaks the soil 6-8" in depth. Be careful not to over water as well. It's important to note that new sod, seed, etc. are in a different category when it comes to watering. 

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There are two main types of aeration, core aeration and spike aeration. Spike aeration is less effective as core aeration as it simply drives a spike into the ground which doesn't help soil compaction as much as core aeration. Core aeration utilizes hollow tines to pull small soil plugs (they look like little dirt turds everywhere) out of the soil which reduces overall compaction, allows more water, nutrients, and oxygen to penetrate the soil. When properly done with overseeding and fertilization, it gives the seed and fertilizer little holes to fall into.

If you don't know what fertilizer or seed to use, it's best to contact your lawn care professional as there are multiple variables that need to be considered (you can burn and/or severally damage your lawn if you get this part wrong). As a general rule of thumb, look for the tag you see here on the grass seed we use. You want to pay attention to the germination rate, type of seed, and weed percentage. A good quality seed is not cheap, but you really do get what you pay for when buying seed. The same can be said for fertilizer and all the chemical numbers on those bags can be a daunting task to figure out. You'll generally see three different numbers that specify things like nitrogen, potash, and phosphate content. So, how do you figure out what your lawn needs? Click here for our secret weapon.    

The elephant in the room... what's all this going to cost you. Well, that depends on the type of seed you need (e.g. bermuda is a lot more expensive than a fescue blend), how much seed you need, fertilizer, time it will take to accomplish everything, etc. Let's say you wanted to rent an 18" walk behind aerator for the day. In our area, you're going to pay $105, have to pick it up, do the work yourself, clean it, and return it. Now, add the price of seed, fertilizer, a spreader if you don't have one, etc. What do we charge? Our prices vary on the size of your lawn, but for 3/4 of an acre and below, we charge $150 for aeration. Essentially, you're paying us $45 more than if you did it yourself, and saving an entire day of work, cleaning, driving, etc. What's the seed and fertilizer cost? We charge you exactly what we purchase it for and only charge you for the labor to spread it.

Final Thoughts...

We live in a transitional zone here in Tennessee which means we see everything from bermuda grass to fescue. Whether you like to do it yourself or want us to do it for you, we're here to help. Maintaining a healthy turf is a joint venture between a lawn care professional and the owner. Feel free to comment, ask questions, and if you would like a quote, simply click right here.