by Jared Garrett

Created on: April 12, 2007   Last Updated: April 17, 2007

The vast swath of green glints dewily in the crisp early spring morning. Emerald and lush, your lawn is your pride, your pet, your hobby. All of your labor and heart goes into the work you do for this wide welcoming mat to your home. So what do you use? What tools do you use that enable you to create such a jealousy-inducing lawn? If you are like me, and I have a nice lawn too, these are the necessary weapons we must use as we do battle against dandelions and crabgrass; thatch patches and brown spots; rapid growing and pale green color.

The first tool in our armory is so simple it might be overlooked. It is that stupendous snake, that perfectly flexible pipe: the hose. What many novices do not fully understand is that grass loves to grow. It is a nice-looking weed that many of us choose to maintain. If you keep your lawn watered, then the grass will naturally grow and will likely be quite lush. But how do you use this important tool called the hose? Simple, you hand water. Hand watering keeps the droplets of water bigger and heavier than most sprinklers. Grass appreciates these heavy drops of water by letting the water into its very tight root base. Hand watering is also particularly a good idea for grass that is in clay-like soilfor the same reason. Those heavy drops get in there better. If you do not have the time to hand water, however, use a sprinkler that does not make too much mist. You will lose less water to wind and also the water will have a better chance of settling into the ground.

Second is the mower. Some folks swear by the old-fashioned mower that has blades at angles so that as you move the cylinder of blades rolls and cuts the grass. But this really does take a lot of effort, the grass is not as even as you might like, and there is actually no measurable difference to the health of your lawn. So use a modern, motorized mower. Set its height so that when you mow, you are only cutting about 30-40% of the height of the grass blades. If you mow regularly, perhaps even every week like me, you can keep your grass even healthier by mulching that top 30-40% of the blade right into the lawn. If you do this every week, thatch will be no problem and the cuttings will become completely natural fertilizer for your lawn. This works like a dream.

A third weapon is the rake. Okay, the rake actually includes two types of rake: the fan rake and the solid metal tine type. You will use the metal tined rake to loosen up any patches of thatch that appear. The fan rake can be then used to rake the little bits of brown grass away. The fan rake is also useful if you are going to rake grass or leaves; although again, if you keep up with it, you can mulch these nice organic materials right into your lawn.

The final weapon in your armory is really only for the die-hard do-it-yourselfer. It is an aerator. Many have seen the large, motorized aerators used by lawn and garden companies. These are beyond expensive. So there is actually such a thing as a hand-aerator. It is not motorized and depends entirely on your energy and ambition. Using this beasty is very time intensive and literally back-breaking. Due to this fact, I recommend you hire one of the lawn and garden companies to come and aerate your yard once a year. Usually they charge about $10-20, so it is very reasonable. Aerating, by the way, gets much-needed oxygen into the root system and soil. Also, any fertilizer you put down, hopefully organic, will penetrate that much faster on aerated soil.

Behold, my lawn warriors, armed thusly you will be able to tackle any lawn problem that arises. Stay vigilant and don't give up the fight!

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